Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, and owner of social media platform X, has been slammed for his remark regarding cross-strait relations.
Musk recently said that “Their [Beijing’s] policy has been to reunite Taiwan with China. From their standpoint, maybe it is analogous to Hawaii or something like that, like an integral part of China that is arbitrarily not part of China.”
His ignorance about Asian history is apparent in this comment, which comes after his suggestion last year to make Taiwan a “special administrative zone” similar to Hong Kong.
The moment the Manchu Qing Dynasty ceded Taiwan to Japan as a result of the 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki, Taiwan ended all legal and kinship ties with China. From other historical perspectives, the Constitution of the Republic of China promulgated in 1946 did not explicitly mention Taiwan or any other geographical area.
Since its founding in 1949, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has never had any control or sovereignty over Taiwan. As a result, Taiwan has always said that Taiwan and China are “one country on each side” and neither is subordinate to the other.
In 1894, Japan launched the First Sino-Japanese War. China was defeated and forced to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki, stipulating that it cede Taiwan to Japan, thus putting an end to all connections between China and Taiwan.
As for the US and Hawaii, the US officially annexed Hawaii in 1898. Therefore, it is inappropriate for Musk to compare Taiwan’s relationship with China to Hawaii and the US, as the two historical events had completely different contexts and conditions.
Musk said that Taiwan is an “integral part of China that is arbitrarily not part of China.”
This is a clear lie. If the remark is allowed to stand, then remarks such as “Tesla is a non-US company, but is arbitrarily so” or “Space X is a subordinate organization under NASA, but is arbitrarily not so,” or “Social media platform X is a branch of Meta, but is arbitrarily not part of it” can also be said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) could not have put it better when he hit back on Musk’s X with the remark: “Listen up, Taiwan is not part of the PRC and is certainly not for sale.”
Perhaps Musk should be reminded of the biblical proverb that “Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.”
Hung Yu-jui is a Japanese-language teacher and translator.
Translated by Rita Wang
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), caused a national outrage and drew diplomatic condemnation on Tuesday after he arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office dressed in a Nazi uniform. Sung performed a Nazi salute and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as he arrived to be questioned over allegations of signature forgery in the recall petition. The KMT’s response to the incident has shown a striking lack of contrition and decency. Rather than apologizing and distancing itself from Sung’s actions,
US President Trump weighed into the state of America’s semiconductor manufacturing when he declared, “They [Taiwan] stole it from us. They took it from us, and I don’t blame them. I give them credit.” At a prior White House event President Trump hosted TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), head of the world’s largest and most advanced chip manufacturer, to announce a commitment to invest US$100 billion in America. The president then shifted his previously critical rhetoric on Taiwan and put off tariffs on its chips. Now we learn that the Trump Administration is conducting a “trade investigation” on semiconductors which
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then