Elon Musk suggests making Taiwan a ‘special administrative zone’ similar to HK (opens in new tab)

(theguardian.com)

13 pointsandrew_gs3y ago17 comments

17 comments

Musk is fully subscribed to China's authoritarian vision. He is invested in it. It suits him.

Musk says Americans are complacent and entitled, especially Californians and New Yorkers. In contrast, Musk says China rocks:

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/31/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-china-ro...

Musk implausibly called America's covid measures "fascist":

https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/29/21242102/elon-musk-corona...

And yet he had Tesla praise China's covid measures. Apparently Tesla had "always strived to fulfil its epidemic prevention responsibilities and that it believed Shanghai's COVID-19 measures helped lay the foundation for the city's future development":

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-...

China profits Musk too much for him to oppose it. He will always make apologies for China.

jleyank3y ago

Isn't it time to consider Elon "performance art" and just ignore the guy? He's either clueless or trolling on the political scene, and he's sorta demonstrated that he's untrustworthy on the business scene. Take his good products and leave the rest.

throwawaylinux3y ago

I love hearing from and thinking about different and contrary opinions, and it's very interesting to hear them coming from someone like Elon. I don't think being rich or making successful things necessarily gives him more credibility per se, but being obscenely rich and running large companies does give him access and connections that are unavailable to a commoner like myself so I think that does actually make him interesting to listen to.

Much more interesting than the usual hack endlessly regurgitating the current corporate-political propaganda talking points, and pretending that confers to them some special authority or expertise about how the world works and what should be changed, which is just mind-numbingly tiresome.

I don't have to agree with Musk about everything or anything, but I think it's very interesting to hear this unfiltered opinions, and I don't think he's clueless at all, I think he's very brave to occasionally defy the narrative. Maybe not always right, but still brave.

bamboozled3y ago

Oh and what’s “the narrative” in this case ? A country doesn’t want to be part of a communist dictatorship subject to madness like “zero covid”? Is that a narrative ?

1 more reply

clouddrover3y ago

It isn't performance art. He is showing you who and what he is. Believe him.

AnimalMuppet3y ago

After what just happened to Hong Kong, why does Musk think this is a reasonable idea? Why does he expect Taiwan to think it's a good idea?

Musk should shut up and go away. He's not a diplomat or an expert on international relations, and he's making himself look stupid by saying stuff that is obviously dumb.

mlindner3y ago

He actually said "they could have an arrangement that’s more lenient than Hong Kong."

So the headline is incorrect.

sidibe3y ago

> an arrangement that’s more lenient than Hong Kong.

So like the arrangement Hong Kong was supposed to have? Twice this week Elon has shown he has faith in lying authoritians.

schoen3y ago

This idea dates back at least to the early 1990s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_country,_two_systems#Propo...

but it's become radically less popular in Taiwan in the last while specifically because of the ways it's been eroded (first gradually, then very quickly) in Hong Kong.

mytailorisrich3y ago

Yes that has always been the peaceful plan on the PRC's side.

But no matter what, Taiwan will never accept because, in effect, the Nationalists will not surrender to the Communists.

WheelsAtLarge3y ago

This is exactly why twitter is such a catch for Elon. At what point in history has any commoner, even a rich one, been able to speak to power with one simple message. Never! He now has control over such an apparatus. A tool that will let him say anything to everyone, even if it's stupid, anytime he wants. We'll be hearing his ideas for decades to come. The world's ego maniacs can only dream of such a thing.

The world, the world, will be split into those that think he's a genius and those that think he's a fool. Either way, people will know his name.

Elon, well played!

bamboozled3y ago

However, there is a good chance it might end up like “Truth Social”. Twitter isn’t exactly impossible to fork.

hunta20973y ago

If Musk actually buys Twitter I'll eat my hat.

He made the offer as a flex, or to own his detractors. He has no intention of following through.

throwawaylinux3y ago

That's going to get him a lot of social credits.

tgv3y ago

You can say about Musk what you want, but he has the balls to stand up for his own profit.

mlindner3y ago

Except he literally said not like Hong Kong. These news articles try to stretch things just to smear Musk literally all the time. (Actual quote "they could have an arrangement that’s more lenient than Hong Kong.")

Yes it's not a great idea, but attack the idea, not the a straw man of the idea. All you do is give more fodder to people.

1 more reply

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17 comments

clouddrover3y ago

Musk is fully subscribed to China's authoritarian vision. He is invested in it. It suits him.

Musk says Americans are complacent and entitled, especially Californians and New Yorkers. In contrast, Musk says China rocks:

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/31/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-china-ro...

Musk implausibly called America's covid measures "fascist":

https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/29/21242102/elon-musk-corona...

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-...

China profits Musk too much for him to oppose it. He will always make apologies for China.

jleyank3y ago

throwawaylinux3y ago

bamboozled3y ago

Oh and what’s “the narrative” in this case ? A country doesn’t want to be part of a communist dictatorship subject to madness like “zero covid”? Is that a narrative ?

1 more reply

clouddrover3y ago

It isn't performance art. He is showing you who and what he is. Believe him.

AnimalMuppet3y ago

After what just happened to Hong Kong, why does Musk think this is a reasonable idea? Why does he expect Taiwan to think it's a good idea?

Musk should shut up and go away. He's not a diplomat or an expert on international relations, and he's making himself look stupid by saying stuff that is obviously dumb.

mlindner3y ago

He actually said "they could have an arrangement that’s more lenient than Hong Kong."

So the headline is incorrect.

sidibe3y ago

> an arrangement that’s more lenient than Hong Kong.

So like the arrangement Hong Kong was supposed to have? Twice this week Elon has shown he has faith in lying authoritians.

schoen3y ago

This idea dates back at least to the early 1990s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_country,_two_systems#Propo...

but it's become radically less popular in Taiwan in the last while specifically because of the ways it's been eroded (first gradually, then very quickly) in Hong Kong.

mytailorisrich3y ago

Yes that has always been the peaceful plan on the PRC's side.

But no matter what, Taiwan will never accept because, in effect, the Nationalists will not surrender to the Communists.

WheelsAtLarge3y ago

The world, the world, will be split into those that think he's a genius and those that think he's a fool. Either way, people will know his name.

Elon, well played!

bamboozled3y ago

However, there is a good chance it might end up like “Truth Social”. Twitter isn’t exactly impossible to fork.

hunta20973y ago

If Musk actually buys Twitter I'll eat my hat.

He made the offer as a flex, or to own his detractors. He has no intention of following through.

throwawaylinux3y ago

That's going to get him a lot of social credits.

tgv3y ago

You can say about Musk what you want, but he has the balls to stand up for his own profit.

mlindner3y ago

Yes it's not a great idea, but attack the idea, not the a straw man of the idea. All you do is give more fodder to people.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse