When President Trump hawked some Teslas at the White House on Tuesday, it evoked a similar scene from Beijing’s main government compound years earlier, when a top Chinese leader was also photographed alongside Elon Musk examining one of the company’s electric vehicles.

美国总统特朗普周二在白宫前叫卖特斯拉的场景，让人想起了几年前在北京的中国政府重要办公场所出现的一个类似场景，当时也有中国高层领导人与埃隆·马斯克一起查看该公司一辆电动汽车的照片。

In January 2019, China’s No. 2 official at the time, Li Keqiang, met with Mr. Musk in the Hall of Purple Light, a pavilion for foreign dignitaries inside the Communist Party’s leadership compound known as Zhongnanhai. A photograph on a Chinese government website shows Mr. Li peering at a Tesla as Mr. Musk, the company’s chief executive, looks on approvingly.

2019年1月，中国当时的二号官员李克强在紫光阁接见了马斯克，紫光阁是中共高层在他们的办公地点中南海接见外国政要的地方。发布在中国政府网站上的照片显示，李克强从车窗外仔细端详着一辆特斯拉汽车，公司首席执行官马斯克露出赞许的眼光。

During that meeting, Mr. Li said that he hoped Mr. Musk could promote the “stability of China-U.S. relations” and offered the billionaire a Chinese green card, according to the state news media outlet CGTN.

据中国官媒CGTN的英语报道，李克强在接见马斯克时说，希望特斯拉“成为中美关系稳定发展的推动者”，还提出送给这名亿万富翁“中国绿卡”。

It was a sign of how crucial China was to Tesla’s future at the time. Mr. Musk had just broken ground on a Tesla factory in Shanghai, which was granted unusually favorable conditions by the Chinese government and has since become the company’s most important manufacturing facility in the world. Beijing ensured Tesla low-interest loans, overhauled ownership rules so that the company could set up without a local partner and granted changes that Tesla had sought on emissions regulations.

那次接见是当时的中国对于特斯拉的未来何以至关重要的象征。马斯克在上海建的特斯拉工厂刚破土动工，中国政府给予了异常优惠的条件，特斯拉上海工厂现已成为公司在全球最重要的制造中心。中国政府为特斯拉建厂提供了低息贷款，改革了限制外资所有权的规定，让它无需当地合作伙伴就能在中国开展业务，并批准了特斯拉想得到的有关汽车排放标准的改革。

It was the second time that Teslas had been displayed in Zhongnanhai. A year earlier, Mr. Musk had posted a photo of himself standing in front of Teslas in the Hall of Purple Light. He had just met with Wang Qishan, China’s vice president at the time. They had a “profoundly interesting discussion of history, philosophy & luck,” Mr. Musk wrote on social media.

那是特斯拉第二次在中南海出现。一年前，马斯克曾发过一张他站在停在紫光阁外的特斯拉前的照片。他刚与中国当时的国家副主席王岐山见了面。马斯克在社交媒体上写道，他们“对历史、哲学，以及运气进行了一次极为有趣的讨论”。

These days, Tesla is struggling in both China, where sales are plunging amid fierce domestic competition, and in the United States, where Mr. Musk’s politics have set off protests and violence at Tesla dealerships and charging stations.

如今，特斯拉在中国和美国都面临困难：中国国内的激烈竞争已导致特斯拉销量暴跌，马斯克在美国的政治活动已引发了针对特斯拉经销店和充电站的抗议活动和暴力事件。

There was at least one major difference between the Beijing and Washington Tesla shows, however. At the White House, Mr. Musk donned a T-shirt and baseball cap. At Zhongnanhai, he wore a suit.

不过，在北京和华盛顿的特斯拉车展中至少有一个很大的不同。马斯克穿着T恤衫、戴着棒球帽现身白宫。他去中南海见中国领导人时穿着西装。