Elon Musk continues to plunge his head into hot international crises
Days after pitching a possible deal to end the war between Russia and Ukraine that drew condemnation in Ukraine, billionaire Elon Musk suggested he could end tensions between China and Taiwan by handing Beijing some control of Taiwan.
“My suggestion… Is about defining a special administrative region for Taiwan and that’s reasonably palatable, and probably not everyone will like,” Musk, the world’s richest person, told the Financial Times in an interview published on Friday.
Musk’s comments came in response to a question from the newspaper about China, where his electric car company, Tesla, runs a large factory in Shanghai.
Beijing, which says Taiwan is one of its provinces, has vowed to bring it under its control and has not ruled out the use of force to do so.
Taiwan’s government strongly opposes China’s claims to sovereignty and says only the island’s 23 million residents can decide its future.
“It’s possible, and I think it’s possible, in fact, that they have a much more permissive arrangement than in Hong Kong,” the newspaper quoted Musk as saying.
China offered Taiwan a “one country, two systems” model of autonomy similar to that applied in Hong Kong, but this model was rejected by all major political parties in Taiwan, and it has no popular support, especially after Beijing imposed a strict national security law in Hong Kong, in the year 2020.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry declined to comment on Musk’s comments, but a senior Taiwanese official familiar with security planning in the region told Reuters that “Musk needs to find a clear-eyed political advisor”.
“The world has seen clearly what happened to Hong Kong,” added the official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The economic and social life of Hong Kong ended abruptly under the authoritarian rule of Beijing”.
Asked about Musk’s remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Taiwan was an “internal affair,” adding that Beijing would continue to adhere to the principle of peaceful reunification while “resolutely smashing” Taiwan’s separatism.
Shipments at the Shanghai factory accounted for nearly half of Tesla’s global shipments last year.
Musk said China had sought assurances that it wouldn’t launch Starlink Internet service for his rocket maker SpaceX there.
Musk said he believed a conflict over Taiwan was inevitable and warned of its potential impact not only on Tesla, but also on Apple, which makes iPhones, and on the economy more broadly.
The interview did not reveal the details of these statements.
Last week, Musk suggested that Ukraine permanently cede Crimea to Russia, that new UN-sponsored referendums be held to determine the fate of Russian-controlled territories and that Ukraine agree to become a neutral country.
Musk asked Twitter users for their opinion on his plan, prompting sharp criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who conducted an opinion poll on his Twitter account saying: “Which Elon Musk do you prefer? Who supports Ukraine (or) who supports Russia”.
