During a recent interview, Elon Musk shared a number of interesting details about his thoughts on China. But aside from talking about what he thinks could be a Taiwan-China peace plan, Musk also mentioned something interesting about Beijing’s stance on SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet system.
As it turns out, Beijing doesn’t want Starlink. At all. And China has made its position very clear.
Musk mentioned this in an interview with the Financial Times. Musk says Beijing has expressed disapproval of its recent launch of Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite communications system, in Ukraine to help the military bypass Russia’s internet shutdown. He says Beijing was seeking assurances that it would not sell Starlink in China,” the publication said.
Interestingly, the FT did not mention whether Musk caved in to Beijing’s views. According to a report by CNBC, Musk has not commented on Starlink in China either.
While the reasons for Beijing’s stance on Starlink are debatable, China has shown a tendency to build its own technology. In the telecom market, domestic giants like China Mobile and Huawei have helped China become one of the top 5G penetration countries. China has also launched its own satellite system called BeiDou, which provides navigation services like GPS.
While discussing China and Taiwan, Elon Musk admitted that Tesla’s operations would be affected by a conflict in the region. Should that happen, the Tesla CEO noted that Gigafactory Shanghai could likely continue to supply battery electric vehicles for the local Chinese market, but nowhere else. This would be a notable blow to Tesla since Giga Shanghai is the company’s main vehicle export hub .
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Tesla’s Elon Musk Reveals Beijing Doesn’t Want Starlink in China
