TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Elon Musk has come up with a Taiwan “solution” that would see the nation become a “special administrative zone” of China — an idea that has predictably angered Taiwanese and much of the rest of the world.
In a Friday (Oct. 7) interview with the Financial Times titled “Elon Musk: ‘Aren’t you entertained?'” the world’s richest man, worth an estimated US$232 billion, admitted to being a fan of China. Partly, of course, this would be due to his reliance on the Shanghai factory that is responsible for 30-50% of Tesla’s production.
According to the Financial Times, Musk believes conflict over Taiwan is inevitable and it would cause Apple huge problems, in particular. He added the global economy would probably take a 30% hit.
“My recommendation … would be to figure out a special administrative zone for Taiwan that is reasonably palatable,” Musk was quoted as saying. “Probably won’t make everyone happy. And it’s possible, and I think probably, in fact, that they could have an arrangement that’s more lenient than Hong Kong.”
Referred to as Ma Si-ke (馬斯克) in Taiwan’s traditional Chinese, Musk was roundly criticized by netizens, according to a report carried by Yahoo News Taiwan. “Hasn’t Musk always been pro-China?” was one response.
Another was: “Musk is a horse who doesn’t even know his own face.”
Elsewhere, on Twitter, which Musk is once again supposed to be buying, commentary was equally dismissive:
No thanks, Mr Musk.
Taiwan is a full-fledged democracy and a sovereign state, not an admin zone. Also, the world must understand that China won't accept any proposal that Taiwan is not part of it. China even cannot hold promises to HK. Making deal w/ China is always an illusion. pic.twitter.com/dtcINdrWlj
— Fang-Yu Chen (@FangYu_80168) October 7, 2022
Elon Musk just won support from Hu Xijin on his proposal to set up a “special administrative zone” that’s more “lenient than Hong Kong” to solve the conflict between Taiwan and China.
Hu called Musk “one of the few people in West who dare to speak out”. pic.twitter.com/GhzH4DlVyY
— Wenhao (@ThisIsWenhao) October 7, 2022