Beijing and Taipei both said something after Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, said that Taiwan should be a special administrative zone of China. In an interview with the Financial Times, the person with the most money in the world said he thought the two governments could come to an ” reasonably palatable agreement.”
China’s ambassador to the US praised Musk, but his Taiwanese counterpart said that freedom is “not for sale.”
Taiwan has its own government, but Beijing says it is part of its land.
Mr. Musk was also criticized last week for putting up a Twitter poll with his ideas for ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, which included Ukraine giving up land to Russia. Mr. Musk’s comments come as the company that makes electric cars set a record for sales in China in a single month.
I would like to thank @elonmusk for his call for peace across the Taiwan Strait and his idea about establishing a special administrative zone for Taiwan. Actually, Peaceful reunification and One Country, Two Systems are our basic principles for resolving the Taiwan question… https://t.co/KYH1Gsu3Um
— Qin Gang 秦刚 (@AmbQinGang) October 8, 2022
In a wide-ranging interview with the UK business newspaper the Financial Times, which came out on Friday, he talked about the rising tensions between China and Taiwan. He said, “My advice would be to develop a special administrative zone for Taiwan that most people can live with, but that probably won’t make everyone happy.” “And it’s possible, and I think it’s likely, that they could have a deal that’s better than Hong Kong’s.”
The BBC is not responsible for what is on sites that are not part of the BBC. Saturday, Qin Gang, China’s ambassador to the US, said that he liked Mr. Musk’s idea to make Taiwan a special administrative zone.
He said on Twitter that China’s “basic principles for solving the Taiwan question” were “peaceful reunification” and the “one country, two systems” model used to run Hong Kong.
“As long as China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests are protected, Taiwan will have a lot of freedom as a special administrative region after reunification and a lot of room to grow,” he said.
In response, Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the United States, Hsiao Bi-khim, said on Twitter, “Taiwan sells many things, but our freedom and democracy are not for sale.”
“Any plan for our future that will last must be made peacefully, without force, and with the democratic wishes of the people of Taiwan in mind,” Ms. Hsiao said. Shihoko Goto, who works at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC, as the director for geoeconomics and Indo-Pacific enterprise, told the BBC that Mr. Musk’s ideas could hurt his business.
“Let’s not forget that Elon Musk is rumored to be close to buying Twitter. China doesn’t allow free speech, so it makes sense that Twitter is banned there “Ms. Goto said. “So, if he invests in Twitter, it’s likely that his company won’t be able to do business in Taiwan that is controlled by China. That would be Elon Musk’s way of killing himself “she said.
China thinks of self-ruled Taiwan as a province that broke away and will eventually be ruled by Beijing.
The China Passenger Car Association released a report on Sunday saying that Tesla sent out 83,135 electric cars made in China in September. That beat the company’s previous record, which was set in June. It was a big step forward for Tesla’s factory in Shanghai, which has been trying to make more cars.
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