Taiwan Blasts Elon Musk For "China Integration" Chatter

Elon Musk weighed in this week on Taiwan—where his comments did not go over well, Steve Mollman reported for Fortune.

Photo Insert: The controversial billionaire has put his foot in his mouth yet again.

“The official policy of China is that Taiwan should be integrated,” Musk said in an interview with CNBC’s David Faber. “One does not need to read between the lines. One can simply read the lines. There’s a certain inevitability to the situation.”

In China, the state-controlled China Daily ran with the headline “Elon Musk: Taiwan should be integrated.”

In response to Musk, Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu tweeted that the Chinese Communist Party’s “bullying & threats are a concern, especially for those who would rather stay free & democratic.”

Wu added that China’s “expansionist policy violates rules-based international order & the status quo. Mr. @ElonMusk, other than money, there is something we call VALUES.”

China considers Taiwan to be its territory—despite the fact that Taiwan is democratic and self-governed—and has threatened to use force if necessary to gain control of it. Taiwan, meanwhile, is home to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest maker of computer chips by volume.

Legendary investor Warren Buffett this week dumped the rest of Berkshire Hathaway’s $4 billion stake in TSMC. He told Japan’s Nikkei last month that the threat of war was a “consideration” in dumping the bulk of the stake.

Last November, Citadel CEO Ken Griffin said America was “utterly and totally dependent on the Taiwanese for modern semiconductors.”

The billionaire hedge fund chief added, “If we lose access to Taiwan semiconductors, the hit to US GDP is probably in the order of magnitude of 5% to 10%. It’s an immediate Great Depression.”

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