Elon Musk provides a proposal to ease tensions between China and Taiwan following the Russia-Ukraine plan
Days after suggesting a possible agreement to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine that received criticism in Ukraine, billionaire Elon Musk claimed that tensions between China and Taiwan could be settled by giving Beijing some power over Taiwan.
The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, said in an interview with the Financial Times that finding a special administrative zone for Taiwan would be “fairly tolerable, probably won’t make everyone happy.” When the publication questioned Musk about China, where his electric car business Tesla runs a sizable facility in Shanghai, he made the comments.Beijing, which claims Taiwan, which is democratically run, is one of its provinces, has long pledged to annex Taiwan and hasn’t ruled out using force to achieve this goal. The government of Taiwan vehemently rejects China’s claims to sovereignty and maintains that only the 23 million residents of the island can decide its future.
The publication quoted Musk as stating, “And it’s possible, and I think probably, in fact, that they might have an arrangement that’s more liberal than Hong Kong.” About half of Tesla’s 2017 deliveries worldwide came from the Shanghai facility. Musk added that China has asked for guarantees that he won’t provide his SpaceX rocket company’s Starlink broadband service there.
Musk declared that he believed a fight over Taiwan was imminent and foresaw the potential effects it may have not just on Tesla but also on Apple Inc., the creator of the iPhone, and the broader economy. These comments were not expanded upon in the interview.Musk suggested earlier this week that Ukraine permanently give Crimea to Russia, that fresh referendums be held under UN supervision to decide what would happen to the land under Russian authority, and that Ukraine accept neutrality. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, criticised him harshly after he requested Twitter users to weigh in on his proposal and suggested his own Twitter poll: “Which of these @elonmusks do you prefer? either one who backs Russia or one who backs Ukraine”
