Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with Elon Musk, the CEO of electric carmaker Tesla Inc., Wednesday afternoon in Beijing after Tesla broke ground for its $5 billion factory in the world’s biggest auto market.

Li congratulated Musk on the planned factory in Shanghai, where construction starts Monday, and observed that the project is China’s first wholly foreign-owned electric auto project after the country eased controls on foreign investment in the sector, state media reported.

The long-planned project will be Tesla’s first car-manufacturing facility outside the U.S. The factory will focus on production of Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y.

Li told Musk he hoped Tesla can become an “in-depth participant in China’s opening and a promoter of the stability of Chinese-U.S. relations.”