The prices of Tesla’s shares have experienced a jump in value after reports that the firm has cleared an important regulatory hurdle in partnering up with the Chinese search engine Baidu, the Chinese equivalent of Google. The reports come after chief executive and founder Elon Musk made a surprise visit to meet the second most powerful leader in the country, Premier Li Qiang.

The deal with Baidu brings Elon Musk closer to rolling out Tesla’s self-driving technology in China.

Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives stated that it was a “watershed moment”. Mr. Ives said that the company faces “massive domestic electric vehicle competition in China along with softer demand,” but that its “long-term valuation story” depends on getting approval for fully autonomous driving.

The current reported go-ahead allows it to sell parts of its autonomous driving technology such as assisted parking. Still, it forbids it from selling fully autonomous technology which will require further approval.

Tesla’s share price has increased by 12% following the US stock market’s opening, which means that the stock has been able to recover from when it had lost a large portion of its value at the start of the year. Part of the reason that Tesla needs approval in China is because its performance in other markets has weakened following the increase in competitors. In its results on Tuesday, profits have more than halved for the first three months of the year.