Days after Tesla CEO Elon Musk proposed Taiwan should be handed over to China, Tesla cars returned to the communist nation with a tax break, according to reports.
Musk recommended during an Oct. 7 interview with the Financial Times that Taiwan should be placed into an “administrative zone.”
“My recommendation … would be to figure out a special administrative zone for Taiwan that is reasonably palatable, probably won’t make everyone happy. And it’s possible, and I think probably, in fact, that they could have an arrangement that’s more lenient than Hong Kong,” Musk said.
China’s ambassador to the U.S., Qin Gang, praised Musk’s recommendation in a tweet.
“I would like to thank @elonmusk for his call for peace across the Taiwan Strait and his idea about establishing a special administrative zone for Taiwan,” he tweeted. “Peaceful reunification of China is also conducive to peace and development in the Asia-Pacific and the wider world.”
The rights and interests of the people in Taiwan will be fully protected, and both sides of the Taiwan Strait will share the glory of national rejuvenation. Peaceful reunification of China is also conducive to peace and development in the Asia-Pacific and the wider world.
— Qin Gang 秦刚 (@AmbQinGang) October 8, 2022
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released a list just days after the interview on Oct. 10 that Tesla’s Model S and Model X variants would be exempt from the vehicle purchase tax, according to Bloomberg Tax.(RELATED: White House Does A Double Take After Biden Says US Troops Would Defend Taiwan If China Attacks)
RIEDEN, GERMANY – JUNE 11: A Tesla electric-powered sedan stands at a Tesla charging staiton at a highway reststop along the A7 highway on June 11, 2015 near Rieden, Germany. Tesla has introduced a limited network of charging stations along the German highway grid in an effort to raise the viability for consumers to use the cars for longer journeys. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Tesla sales in China hit a record-high in September, with 83,135 vehicles sold in wholesale, Reuters reported. The number marks an 8% increase from August and set a new record for Tesla’s Shanghai factory, which began production back in December of 2019, according to Reuters. Tesla had temporarily suspended production at the Shanghai plant in July for upgrades.
Tesla has been accused of “economic support for genocide” after it opened a new showroom in the Xinjiang region, where Uyghur Muslims face severe human rights abuses, according to CBS News.