Musk says Beijing doesn’t want him to sell Starlink in China: Financial Times report

Beijing – Elon Musk Tell Financial Times The Chinese government does not want him to sell Starlink satellite internet service in China.

Musk says Beijing has made it clear that it doesn’t agree to it Recently launched Starlink, a satellite communications system for SpaceX, in Ukraine The newspaper said in its latest column entitled “Lunch with the Financial Times”, which was published Friday, “to help the military bypass the Internet cuts in Russia.”

“He says Beijing has requested assurances that he will not sell Starlink in China,” the article read.

The Financial Times did not say whether Musk agreed to Beijing’s request. The business leader, who is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Electric car giant Musk Tesla It relies on China for more than 20% of its revenue and has a large factory in Shanghai.

Contrary to the condemnation of the United States and other countries of the Russian invasion of Ukraine this year, China refused to describe the attack as an invasion.

In recent years, China has focused more on building its own technology, including in space.

Domestic telecom giants, such as China Mobile and Huawei, have helped China achieve one of the highest 5G internet penetration rates in the world.

In addition to, China completed its own satellite communication system, Beidou, in 2020. The system rivals the US government’s Global Positioning System (GPS).

China’s Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

The Financial Times said Musk expects Tesla to be stuck in an “inevitable” conflict over Taiwan, but it will still be able to deliver products to customers in China.

Beijing considers the autonomous island democratically part of its territory and has repeatedly stated its goal of peaceful reunification.

Musk was quoted by the Financial Times as saying that his recommendation “would be to designate a special administrative region for Taiwan that would be reasonably acceptable, and probably not make everyone happy.”

In response to a request to respond to Musk’s recommendation on Taiwan, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry said: “We remain committed to the basic principle of peaceful reunification and one country, two systems and aim to work with utmost sincerity and efforts to achieve peace and reunification.”

“At the same time, we will firmly defeat attempts to pursue the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist agenda, repel the interference of outside forces, and protect our sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the spokeswoman said Saturday at a regular press briefing.

Qin Gang, China’s ambassador to the United States, Musk thanked for the idea in a tweet.

Read the full interview with the Financial Times here.

CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.