Chinese envoy to US thanks Musk for Taiwan 'peace proposal'
Oct 10, 2022
Washington [US], October 10 : Chinese ambassador to US Qin Gang on Sunday thanked Tesla CEO Elon Musk for his call for peace across the Taiwan Strait which has witnessed heightened tensions in the recent past.
"I would like to thank @elonmusk for his call for peace across the Taiwan Strait and his idea about establishing a special administrative zone for Taiwan. Actually, peaceful reunification and One Country, Two Systems are our basic principles for resolving the Taiwan question and the best approach to realizing national reunification," Qin Gang tweeted.
"Provided that China's sovereignty, security and development interests are guaranteed, after reunification Taiwan will enjoy a high degree of autonomy as a special administrative region, and a vast space for development," he said in another tweet.
This comes after Musk suggested that Taiwan could be made a special administrative zone of China. This proposal, which came a few days after he proposed a solution for Russia-Ukraine war, was met with backlash both from China and the self-governing island.
Musk's comment not only infringes national sovereignty but also harms democracy, Taiwan News quoted Democratic Progressive Party Spokesperson Huang Tsai-lin as saying on Saturday.
Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said that "the Taiwan issue is China's domestic politics." She added that China will "resolutely suppress interference by foreign forces."
In a Friday interview with the Financial Times, the world's richest man admitted to being a fan of China. He recommended figuring out "a special administrative zone for Taiwan that is reasonably palatable" and "more lenient than Hong Kong."
The statement did not go down well with people in Taiwan, with politicians from major political parties issuing statements denouncing Musk's remarks, Taiwan News reported.
Most parties agreed that Musk is largely driven by the business interests and stakes he has in China and therefore holds a subjective view of cross-strait issues.
