Oct 9 (Reuters) – China’s ambassador to the United States thanked billionaire Elon Musk for proposing a special administration zone for Taiwan but stressed Beijing’s call for the island’s “peaceful reunification and ‘one country, two systems’.”
Days after touting a possible deal to end the war between Russia and Ukraine that was condemned in Ukraine, Musk suggested that tensions between China and Taiwan could be resolved by handing over some control of Taiwan to Beijing.
“My recommendation… would be to designate a special administrative region for Taiwan that would be reasonably acceptable, and probably not make everyone happy,” Musk told the Financial Times in an interview published Friday.
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Musk was responding to a question about China, where his Tesla car is (TSLA.O) An electric car company that runs a large factory.
Beijing, which claims Taiwan as one of its provinces, has vowed to bring Taiwan under its control and has not ruled out the use of force to do so. Taiwan’s democratically governed government vehemently opposes China’s claims to sovereignty and says only the island’s 23 million residents can decide its future.
In tweets posted on Saturday, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Chen Gang wrote: “I would like to thank @elonmusk for his call for peace across the Taiwan Strait and his idea of creating a special administrative region for Taiwan.”
“In fact, peaceful reunification and one country, two systems are our basic principles for resolving the Taiwan question… and the best approach to achieving national reunification,” he added.
“Provided that China’s sovereignty, security and development interests are guaranteed, Taiwan after reunification will enjoy a high degree of autonomy as a special administrative region and a wide area for development,” the ambassador wrote.
China offered Taiwan a “one country, two systems” model of autonomy similar to Hong Kong’s, but this model was rejected by all major political parties in Taiwan and has no public support, especially after Beijing imposed a strict national security law in the city in 2020.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry declined to comment on Musk’s comments on Saturday.
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(Report) Arshad Muhammad. Editing by Lisa Schumaker
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