Users of a Chinese social media network praised Musk, with some championing his call for a third American political party.

A few hours after the Senate passed the bill on Wednesday, the hashtag #MuskWantsToBuildAnAmericaParty went viral on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform and has received more than 37 million views.

Tesla remains Musk’s best-known business, but its fortunes are less directly tied to the government than SpaceX, his rocket-building company.