Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is known for his straight-talking nature that often lands him in the middle of controversies. Being the richest man on the planet, it can be said without a doubt that Musk is one of the most influential people in world, thus his comments on any subject whatsoever tend to attract a lot of attention.

The 51-year-old tycoon recently spoke to the Financial Times, and in the interview, he suggested that the only way to resolve the ongoing tensions between China and Taiwan would be “handing over some control of Taiwan to Beijing”.

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This comment by the multi-billionaire has irked the Taiwanese government and political figures, who were quick to hit back. Huang Tsai-lin, spokesperson for the country’s Democratic Progressive Party, said that Musk’s comment is harmful to democracy and infringes on Taiwan’s national sovereignty.

In the interview, which was published on Friday, Musk also put forth his opinion that the conflict between China and Taiwan is “inevitable”. He further suggested that the two countries should “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”.

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This is not the first time in recent memory that Musk has fallen foul of national leaders for his proposals to resolve geopolitical tensions. Earlier, he was subject to the wrath of Ukrainians when he conducted a Twitter poll for people to voice their opinions on the Russians’ announced annexation of four Ukrainian provinces.

He captioned the poll: “Ukraine-Russia Peace: Redo elections of annexed regions under UN supervision. Russia leaves if that is the will of the people, Crimea formally part of Russia, as it has been since 1783 (until Khrushchev’s mistake), Water supply to Crimea assured, Ukraine remains neutral”.

After this, the SpaceX chief posted another poll with the caption: “Let’s try this then: the will of the people who live in the Donbas and Crimea should decide whether they’re part of Russia or Ukraine.” This post drew a reaction from Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, who himself posted a poll saying, “Which @elonmusk do you like more? – one who supports Ukraine, one who supports Russia”.