Musk, who accompanied Trump and several influential American business leaders to China, was spotted filming the grand venue on his phone before meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. In the now-famous clip, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX spins around slowly while capturing the surroundings, seemingly absorbing the vastness of the hall ahead of the highly monitored meeting.
The juxtaposition between the tense geopolitical environment and Musk’s easygoing attitude quickly captured the internet’s interest.
Uno que esta disfrutando el viaje a china es el elon musk
(Míralo al pibe bessnet ahi al lado) pic.twitter.com/34l1El9qdx
— ElBuni (@therealbuni) May 14, 2026
Wearing a black suit and positioned among senior officials and executives, Musk seemed wholly engrossed in capturing a panoramic video of the venue, which led to an avalanche of memes and jokes on social media platforms.
One user humorously suggested that intelligence agencies from both nations were likely observing sensitive communications while Musk casually recorded the room. Another remarked that the billionaire looked like he was “on a school trip,” while others characterized the moment as “peak Elon behaviour.”
The clip added to a collection of viral highlights from the Beijing visit. Other videos circulating online displayed Musk engaging with Apple CEO Tim Cook at an event, with numerous users sharing clips of Musk displaying animated facial expressions while guests were served by Chinese hosts.
The Beijing summit brought together Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and a host of American tech leaders including Musk, Cook, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, among others.
Trump later described the visit as “incredible” and claimed that the discussions resulted in “fantastic trade deals” between the two nations. He also mentioned that he and Xi Jinping discussed Iran and agreed that Tehran should not have access to nuclear weapons.
(Edited by : Tenzin Norzom)
First Published: May 15, 2026 3:26 PM IST
