Taiwan has publicly rebuked Elon Musk over his claim that it is an "integral part of China" and told Newsweek it "condemns in the strongest terms the brutal mediation practices of China's authoritarian government."
Musk, speaking at a tech conference in Los Angeles Wednesday, said Taiwan was part of China and likened the relationship between Taiwan and China to that of the United States and Hawaii. Taiwan responded fiercely Thursday.
Beijing has always maintained Taiwan is part of China but the People's Republic of China (PRC) has never ruled there. Taiwan maintains its democratic independence.
The island democracy's foreign minister Joseph Wu criticized Musk for his comments, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Newsweek Friday that Taiwan "calls on democratic countries to recognize China's authoritarian expansion ambitions."
The X, Space X and Tesla owner, joining the All-In Summit on Wednesday remotely from a private jet, said: "I understand China well, I've been there many times. I've met with senior leadership at the main level in China for many years and so I think I've got a pretty good understanding, as an outsider, of China, and Tesla has been very successful domestically in China.
"So, the fundamental thing here is really Taiwan. China has for really half a century or so…longer…their policy has been to reunite Taiwan with China. From their standpoint, it's maybe analogous to Hawaii or something like that, like an integral part of China that is arbitrarily not part of China… mostly because the U.S. Pacific Fleet has stopped any sort of reunification effort by force."
Taiwan's foreign minister Joseph Wu took to the Musk-owned social media site X, formerly Twitter, to berate the billionaire, as Chinese state media pounced on the clip, sharing it widely.
"Listen up, Taiwan is not part of the PRC & certainly not for sale!" Wu said, on the official government X account. "Hope @elonmusk can also ask the #CCP to open @X to its people. Perhaps he thinks banning it is a good policy, like turning off @Starlink to thwart #Ukraine's counterstrike against #Russia."
Hope @elonmusk can also ask the #CCP to open @X to its people. Perhaps he thinks banning it is a good policy, like turning off @Starlink to thwart #Ukraine’s counterstrike against #Russia. Listen up, #Taiwan is not part of the #PRC & certainly not for sale! JW https://t.co/HEhyTYYXFp
— 外交部 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROC (Taiwan) 🇹🇼 (@MOFA_Taiwan) September 13, 2023
The country's Foreign Ministry spokesman Jeff Liu, in a press briefing Thursday, added: "We can't tell whether or not Musk's free will is for sale. But Taiwan is not for sale, that's for sure.
"Musk ignores that Chinese people have neither freedom of speech, nor internet freedom. The fact remains that Chinese people still can't access the social-media platform X today."
Tesla has a factory in Shanghai and said in April it plans to build a second one in-country.
Newsweek emailed Elon Musk via Tesla for comment.
China and the U.S. have been ramping up military drills around Taiwan. On September 9, the destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Ottawa passed through the Taiwan Strait, according to the U.S. military, in what they described as a freedom-of-navigation operation.
From Monday, Chinese air and naval forces have been conducting military drills around Taiwan. On Wednesday, Taiwan's defense ministry tracked multiple Chinese warplanes flying sorties near the island, with many of them entering its air defense identification zone.
In a statement to Newsweek, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: "In response to the Chinese government's wanton military provocations such as naval and air force exercises around Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemns in the strongest terms the brutal mediation practices of China's authoritarian government.
"Ignoring that the visits of our heads of state and vice-heads of state are the basic rights of sovereign states, and that the Governments of Taiwan and the United States have clearly stated that this practice has been practiced for many years, the Chinese Government still deliberately uses the topic to carry out various mediation actions.
"These wanton interferences threaten the common values and democratic way of life of the free world. In response to the Chinese government's blatant use of intimidation and coercion to intervene in democratic elections in other countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls on democratic countries to recognize China's authoritarian expansion ambitions, so as to avoid serious erosion of the basic values shared by democratic countries.
"Taiwan is a democracy recognized by the international community, and regular democratic elections have become a part of the lives of the Taiwan people, which is an important cornerstone and link between Taiwan and other democratic countries.
"The People's Republic of China is a globally recognized authoritarian state that oppresses internally and expands externally. The people of democratic Taiwan will not accept authoritarian China's interference in our democratic elections, nor can they accept the guidance of China's authoritarian government in election behavior.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls on the people, regardless of political position, to unite to defend Taiwan's democratic values, to spurn China's mediation of elections, and to greet Taiwan's democratic elections with free will."
