After Russia-Ukraine plan, Musk gives proposal to resolve China-Taiwan tensions By Reuters

By Kanishka Singh and Hyunjoo Jin

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Billionaire Elon Musk, days after floating a attainable deal to finish the struggle between Russia and Ukraine that drew condemnation in Ukraine, steered that tensions between China and Taiwan might be resolved by handing over some management of Taiwan to Beijing.

“My suggestion . . . could be to determine a particular administrative zone for Taiwan that’s fairly palatable, most likely will not make everybody glad,” Musk, the world’s richest individual, informed the Monetary Instances in an interview printed on Friday. Musk made the remarks when requested by the newspaper about China, the place his Tesla (NASDAQ:) electrical automotive firm operates a big manufacturing unit in Shanghai.

Beijing, which says democratically dominated Taiwan is certainly one of its provinces, has lengthy vowed to deliver Taiwan underneath its management and has not dominated out the usage of power to take action. Taiwan’s authorities strongly objects to China’s sovereignty claims and says solely the island’s 23 million individuals can resolve its future.

“And it is attainable, and I feel most likely, in truth, that they might have an association that is extra lenient than Hong Kong,” Musk, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

The Shanghai manufacturing unit accounted for about half of Tesla’s world deliveries final yr. Musk additionally mentioned China has sought assurances that he wouldn’t supply the Starlink web service of his SpaceX rocket firm there.

Musk mentioned he reckoned that battle over Taiwan was inevitable and warned of its potential affect on not solely Tesla, but in addition on iPhone maker Apple Inc (NASDAQ:) and the broader financial system. The interview didn’t elaborate on these remarks.

Earlier this week, Musk proposed that Ukraine completely cede Crimea to Russia, that new referendums be held underneath U.N. auspices to find out the destiny of Russian-controlled territory, and that Ukraine comply with neutrality. He requested Twitter customers to weigh in on his plan, drawing sharp criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who proposed his personal Twitter ballot: “Which @elonmusk do you want extra? One who helps Ukraine (or) one who helps Russia.”