Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin was
responding to a question during a regular daily briefing on Tuesday, after
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk struck a deal on Monday to buy Twitter.
Roughly half the cars Tesla sold globally last year were
made at its plant in Shanghai.
Meanwhile, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on Monday asked in a
post on Twitter if Elon Musk's $44 billion cash deal to buy Twitter gives China
"a bit of leverage over the town square".
Twitter is blocked in China, where Musk, the world's richest
person, has key business interests. Musk, who calls himself a free speech
absolutist and has criticised Twitter's content moderation policy, reached a
deal on Monday to buy the social media platform.
Political activists expect that Musk's ownership of Twitter
will mean less moderation and reinstatement of banned individuals including
former US President Donald Trump.
There are also questions on what the deal will mean for
Twitter's China content policy as Musk's Tesla relies heavily on China for
production and vehicle sales.
"Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage
over the town square?" Bezos tweeted late on Monday.
Interesting question. Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the town square? https://t.co/jTiEnabP6T
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 25, 2022
"My own answer to this question is probably not. The
more likely outcome in this regard is complexity in China for Tesla, rather
than censorship at Twitter," he later tweeted.
But we’ll see. Musk is extremely good at navigating this kind of complexity.
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 26, 2022
Musk said in a tweet on Monday: "I hope that even my
worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means." ©
Reuters