Elon Musk slammed for his ‘solution’ to China-Taiwan dispute

Taiwan’s ambassador reprimands billionaire saying its ‘freedom and democracy are not for sale’

Taiwan has lashed out at billionaire Elon Musk after he suggested the country should give up some control to China by carving out “a special administrative zone” in order to bring down tensions.

In a fresh controversy after suggesting “solutions” for ending the Ukraine war, the world’s richest man and Tesla founder made comments about Taiwan in a recent interview with The FInancial Times, published on Friday.

“My recommendation ... would be to figure out a special administrative zone for Taiwan that is reasonably palatable, probably won’t make everyone happy,” Mr Musk said.

While Mr Musk’s comments invited gratitude from China’s ambassador to the United States, Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to Washington reprimanded the billionaire.

“Taiwan sells many products, but our freedom and democracy are not for sale,” Hsiao Bi-khim, Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to Washington, tweeted on Saturday.

“Any lasting proposal for our future must be determined peacefully, free from coercion, and respectful of the democratic wishes of the people of Taiwan.”

China’s ambassador to the United States, Qin Gang, stressed Beijing’s call for “peaceful reunification and ‘one country, two systems’” for the island in a tweet on Saturday, while thanking Mr Musk.

“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 ... and the best approach to realising national reunification,” he added.

“Provided that China’s sovereignty, security and development interests are guaranteed, after reunification Taiwan will enjoy a high degree of autonomy as a special administrative region, and a vast space for development,” the ambassador wrote.

Beijing, which claims Taiwan as one of its provinces, has long vowed to bring the island nation under its control and has not ruled out the use of force to do so. Democratically ruled Taiwan’s government strongly objects to China’s sovereignty claims and says only the island’s 23 million people can decide its future.

China has offered Taiwan a “one country, two systems” model of autonomy similar to what Hong Kong has, but that has been rejected by all mainstream political parties in Taiwan and has very little public support, especially after Beijing imposed a tough National Security Law in Hong Kong in 2020.

The suggestions from Tesla founder on tensions surrounding Taiwan and China came just days after he drew ire from Ukraine following his Twitter poll on possible “solutions” for ending the war, a move that led to condemnation from president Volodymyr Zelensky as well.

Additional reporting by agencies