Elon Musk said on Tuesday that Taiwan should join China, and the island's premier responded by saying the billionaire "doesn't know much" about the country.
The richest man in the world has aroused resentment in Taiwan because of an interview he gave to the Financial Times that touched on Taiwan's tense relationship with its enormous neighbour.
Beijing, which claims democracy as part of its territory and threatens to annex Taiwan one day, threatens to invade Taiwan on a continuous basis.
According to Musk, Taiwan should reach a "fairly palatable" arrangement with Beijing to become a "special administrative zone" of China, according to the interview that was published on Friday.
That model is used by Beijing to run Macau and Hong Kong.
Beijing’s leaders have long suggested the same model for Taiwan although it has always been a non-starter for the vast majority of Taiwanese.
Premier Su Tseng-chang — Taiwan’s most senior politician after the president — became the highest-ranking official yet to address Musk’s comments, which he dismissed on Tuesday.
“Musk is a businessman,” Su told a parliamentary session. “He has a big car factory in Shanghai and he wants to promote his electric vehicles… a businessman may say this today and say that tomorrow”.
“Musk only speaks for himself but he really doesn’t know much about Taiwan and he also doesn’t understand cross-strait relations,” Su added.
Polls have consistently shown that a large majority of Taiwan’s people have no appetite to be ruled by China, something that has deepened after Beijing deployed a sweeping political crackdown in Hong Kong.
Musk is a notoriously outspoken business figure, especially on Twitter, where he frequently wades into social and geopolitical causes.
His comments on Taiwan were praised by multiple Chinese officials, including Beijing’s ambassador to Washington Qin Gang.
Last week Musk became embroiled in a social media spat with Ukrainian officials including President Volodymyr Zelensky over his ideas on ending Russia’s invasion.
Musk proposed a peace deal involving re-running under UN supervision annexation referendums in Moscow-occupied Ukrainian regions, acknowledging Russian sovereignty over the Crimean peninsula and giving Ukraine neutral status.
Kyiv’s ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk replied bluntly: “Fuck off is my very diplomatic reply to you.”