Taiwan hits out at Elon Musk over his China comments: ‘Listen up, Taiwan is certainly not for sale’

Elon Musk has landed himself at the center of yet another geopolitical controversy after angering a top Taiwanese politician.

Speaking via teleconference at Los Angeles’s All-In Summit this week, Musk said he believed he had “a pretty good understanding, as an outsider, of China.”

Musk compared the link between China and Taiwan to Hawaii’s relationship with the United States—that is, that Taiwan is “an integral part of China that is arbitrarily not part of China.”

Last year, President Joe Biden said U.S. forces would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion—sparking fury from China.

However, Musk suggested at the All-In Summit that this was probably an unfeasible task.

Tensions around Taiwan’s status have been rising steadily in recent years, with Western speculation that Beijing could invade the island gathering speed.

In a post on X—Musk’s own social media platform—Taiwan’s foreign minister Joseph Wu lashed out at the Tesla CEO’s take on the situation.

Wu said he was hopeful Musk would convince the ruling Chinese Communist Party to make X, formerly Twitter, accessible on Chinese soil, where it is currently banned.

“Listen up, Taiwan is not part of [China] and certainly not for sale!” he added.