Tesla gained a potential ally in China after the country’s most valuable company, Tencent, revealed it had bought a 5% stake in the Silicon Valley electric-vehicle maker. According to The Wall Street Journal, the $1.8 billion investment marks a vote of confidence in Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk, who is facing questions about whether he can meet his ambitious goals of delivering the $35,000 Model 3 sedan on time later this year and at the scale he has projected. Tencent could play an instrumental role in helping Tesla set up a manufacturing operation in China, said Michael Dunne, a longtime auto industry consultant who spent years in the country. Tencent and Foxconn are both investors in a startup called Future Mobility, which aims to make its own electric vehicles by 2020.