Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs counters Elon Musk’s statement that Taiwan is part of China, insisting that Taiwan is not part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and cannot be sold. Taiwan’s stand was conveyed by its foreign affairs minister, Joseph Wu, on X, formerly Twitter, in response to a comment made by Musk at the recently held All-In Summit in Los Angeles.
Taiwan has been self-governing since it separated from China after a civil war in 1949. However, Beijing still views Taiwan as its territory which should be reunited with the mainland, even by force if necessary. Musk, CEO of X, SpaceX and Tesla compared China’s view of Taiwan to a situation like Hawaii; believing it to be an integral part of China that is arbitrarily not part of it.
Wu used Twitter to urge Elon Musk to request the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to lift the ban on X in China. He compares this situation to Musk’s decision to disable Starlink during Ukraine’s retaliation against Russia, suggesting Musk may agree with such policies.
Musk has faced criticism from both Ukraine and Taiwan due to his actions related to international conflict. Reportedly, his limitation of access to SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network averted a Ukrainian military attack on Russia in the initial days of the Russo-Ukrainian war, drawing backlash from Ukraine and US Senator Elizabeth Warren. Furthermore, in October, Musk’s proposal that the China-Taiwan tensions could be lessened if Beijing had some control over Taiwan led to a rebuke from the Taiwanese government.
[sourcelink link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbmsseeo8Uk”]
