Taiwan conflict – outrage over Musk’s idea for “special administrative region”

A spokesman for the Council for Relations with Mainland China (MAC) in Taipei said of Musk’s interview in the “Financial Times”.

China regards the democratic island republic as part of the People’s Republic and threatens to conquer it. In contrast, the 23 million Taiwanese have long considered themselves independent. The US has committed itself to Taiwan’s defense capabilities. The Russian invasion of Ukraine had raised concerns that China could soon take similar measures against Taiwan. In the interview, Musk called a conflict over Taiwan inevitable and expressed concern that the global economy would take a major hit.

Beijing is happy
The Beijing government welcomed the proposal, which is in line with its “one country, two systems” approach. “I want to thank Elon Musk for his call for peace in the Taiwan Strait and his idea to establish a special administrative region for Taiwan,” China’s ambassador to the United States Qin Gang tweeted over the weekend. He also held out the prospect of “a high degree of autonomy” for Taiwan as a “special administrative region”.

Musk had already caused irritation last week when he proposed granting Ukraine neutral status, renunciation of the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula and UN-supervised referendums on state ties with the other Russian-occupied territories. The billionaire had responded to the short message service Twitter – which he now wants to buy after a long back and forth.