The always egotistical Elon Musk thinks he has the solution to the China-Taiwan conflict, having suggested to the Financial Times recently that Beijing should simply take control of the island of 23 million people.
Musk says Taiwan needs to become a "special administrative zone" of communist China, similar to how Hong Kong is currently designated.
"My recommendation ... would be to figure out a special administrative zone for Taiwan that is reasonably palatable," Musk said, adding that his recommendation "probably won't make everyone happy."
Musk had been asked a question about where his Tesla company operates a "super" factory in Shanghai. (Related: Remember when Elon Musk lied about "fully" self-driving Teslas?)
China considers Taiwan to be a breakaway province that it will eventually reclaim, either through diplomacy or by force. The communist giant has offered Taiwan a "one country, two systems" model of governance similar to Hong Kong, though mainstream Taiwanese political parties have all patently rejected this proposal.
"And it's possible, and I think probable, in fact, that [Taiwan] could have an arrangement that's more lenient than Hong Kong," Musk added during the interview.
Taiwanese politicians blast Musk for his arrogance
In 2020, China imposed a tough National Security Law on Taiwan that prompted Wang Ting-Tu, a senior lawmaker for Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party, to write on Facebook the following:
"Individual independent companies cannot take their ownership as a joke. So why should they casually pass off the democratic freedoms, sovereignty and way of life of 23 million Taiwanese?"
Another senior Taiwanese official responded to Musk directly in a statement to Reuters that the electric vehicle (EV) guru "needs to find a clear-headed political adviser" before shooting off his mouth, as he clearly loves to do.
"The world has seen clearly what happened to Hong Kong ... their economic and social vibrancy abruptly ended under Beijing's totalitarian rule," this same official added.
Beijing, meanwhile, has not said much about Musk's statements thus far, though a Chinese foreign ministry basically told him to mind his own business by declaring that the situation with Taiwan is a "domestic affair."
Conservatives especially need to come to grips with the fact that despite his past suggestions about possibly expanding free speech on Twitter, Musk is all about himself and his own interests.
These latest statements about Taiwan more than likely reflect the fact that Musk operates Tesla factories in China and does not want to offend the nation, from which he massively profits.
The guy only seems to care about himself and certainly does not share the same values as the average American, no matter how much he tries to pander to that demographic.
"I've been predicting this for two years," one commenter wrote about the matter.
"The Taiwanese people know what happened in Hong Kong and they know there is no way to negotiate with communist China. It will all take some time as the slow assimilation of Taiwan into the mainland works its way through the hearts and minds of the people and becomes a mainstream mantra. Once the Taiwan politicians begin to embrace the concept, it's game over."
Another wrote that China's presumed conversation with Musk before he made these latest statements probably went something along the lines of:
"Hey Elon, you can keep selling your cars in China if you publicly suggest ... thank you for your cooperation."
"Taiwan needs to tell him to beat it just like Ukraine did," wrote someone else about how the world is growing weary of Musk and his annoying antics.
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