Mainstream Media Takes Elon Out of Context – Chaos Ensues

Elon Musk has received backlash over something he said during a business summit.

But what he said was significantly taken out of context.

Elon compared Taiwan to Hawaii, saying it was a part of China.

Watch the clip here:

🇺🇸🇨🇳 Elon Musk: ‘Taiwan is analogous to Hawaii or something like that. An integral part of China that is arbitrarily not part of China, mostly because the US specifically has stopped any reunification effort.’

Based Elon Musk 🔥pic.twitter.com/23b8UGpk3H

— Sameera Khan (@SameeraKhan) September 13, 2023

But here’s the thing.

Elon was saying that this is the standpoint of China.

But people took it out of context and spun it into Elon being a China sympathizer.

The story got so much attention that the Foreign Minister of Taiwan responded.

The BBC has more on the story:

Taiwan has told billionaire Elon Musk it is “not for sale” after he said the island was a part of China.

“Listen up, Taiwan is not part of the PRC [People’s Republic of China] & certainly not for sale!,” foreign minister Joseph Wu said on Mr Musk’s X.

At a business summit this week, Mr Musk compared Taiwan to Hawaii, calling it an “integral part” of China.

Beijing claims self-governed Taiwan and tensions between the two have ratcheted up over the past year.

Just this week, China conducted air and naval drills around Taiwan, in what has become a routine show of military might around the island. Taiwan said that it had detected more than 40 Chinese military aircraft and about 10 ships in its waters.

This is not the first time that Mr Musk, who has business interests in China, has angered Taiwan’s government with his comments. In October, he suggested that tensions between Beijing and Taipei could be resolved by giving China some control over Taiwan.

He said then in an interview with the Financial Times that he believed the two governments could reach a “reasonably palatable” arrangement. China’s ambassador to the US had praised Mr Musk but his Taiwanese counterpart said something similar to Mr Wu – that freedom is “not for sale”.

People on Twitter were upset at Elon:

Taiwan has a message for Elon Musk, who just compared Taiwan to (checks notes) Hawaii. pic.twitter.com/bCe1g9xJtM

— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) September 14, 2023

Taiwan could single handedly end Elon Musk by refusing to supply chips to SpaceX and Tesla. I wish they would. pic.twitter.com/2A67bdnLEQ

— Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) September 14, 2023

One of the original posts that blew up.

He later came out admitting that he was wrong!

That's fair 👇 He did say "from their standpoint" and I missed it in the quote https://t.co/xE5N6Vw03E

— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) September 13, 2023

What a joke.

More from CNN:

Musk’s comments were made in response to a question about the challenges faced by American businesses in China.

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Because of his business interests in China, Musk has met with “senior leadership at many levels in China,” he noted, adding that he felt he had “a pretty good understanding” of the country for “an outsider.”

Musk visited China earlier this year, where he held court with numerous government officials and visited Tesla’s Gigafactory in Shanghai. In April, he announced plans for a new battery factory in the city.

Musk has been effusive in his praise for Tesla vehicles produced in Shanghai, saying they are associated with “not just the most efficient production, but also the highest quality.”

Of course, the mainstream media doesn’t care about the truth.

They’re just in it for a story and a chance to defame Elon.