Taiwan slams Musk for calling it an 'integral part' of China --- Agence France-Presse

TAIPEI — Taiwan lashed out at the US tech billionaire Elon Musk on Thursday for "blindly flattering" Beijing after he called the self-ruled island "an integral part" of China. Beijing claims Taiwan as its own territory awaiting "reunification" and has intensified pressure since independence-leaning Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016. Musk drew Taipei's ire for comparing Taiwan to the US state of Hawaii in a podcast and calling the island "an integral part" of China. Musk "blindly flatters China and if (his) comments are made out of commercial interests, such comments are not worthy of being taken seriously and the speaker does not deserve respect," Foreign Ministry spokesman Jeff Liu told reporters. "We don't know if Musk's free will is for sale but Taiwan is not for sale, that's for sure," he said. Taiwan's foreign minister Joseph Wu earlier criticized Musk in a post on X, the platform formerly branded Twitter which the tycoon owns, suggesting he ask China's ruling Communist Party to open it to people in China. "Hope @elonmusk can also ask the #CCP to open @X to its people," Wu said. "Perhaps he thinks banning it is a good policy, like turning off @Starlink to thwart #Ukraine’s counterstrike against #Russia". Musk said last week he had blocked a Ukraine attack on Russian warships in the Black Sea last year by turning off internet access to Starlink, his satellite-based communications system. Musk has sparked anger in Taiwan before, most recently in May for saying China will inevitably integrate Taiwan. "The official policy of China is that Taiwan should be integrated... One does not need to read between the lines," he told CNBC in an interview. "There is a certain inevitability to the situation," he said. The outspoken Musk, who has extensive business interests in China, frequently wades into social and geopolitical issues in comments he posts on his social media platform.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more