It looks like SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet system will not be deployed in China due to resistance from the country’s government.
To no one’s surprise, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk revealed the Chinese government isn’t a fan of Starlink, according to an interview with The Financial Times. The country has “sought assurances” that Musk will never sell Starlink in China.
In addition, Beijing “has made clear its disapproval” of SpaceX supplying Starlink to Ukraine, which is locked in a war with Russia, a Chinese ally. SpaceX has so far supplied over 25,000 Starlink dishes to Ukraine in an effort to keep the country online. At the same time, the Ukrainian military has used Starlink access to send encrypted communications and launch drone strikes on Russian forces.
It's unclear if Musk will obey China’s request to never export Starlink to the country. But it’s doubtful he’ll defy the Chinese government. His other company, Tesla, has a major factory in Shanghai, which can produce hundreds of thousands of electric vehicles to serve markets in Asia and Europe. If Musk angers China, the country’s government could move quickly to shut down the factory, and block electric car components from reaching other Tesla factories.
China probably isn’t a fan of Starlink expanding to the country over fears the satellite internet system could provide a way for Chinese citizens to surf the internet free of any censorship. Last month, Musk activated Starlink in Iran in the hopes it’ll help local users in the country access the internet, unfiltered.
A few Chinese researchers have even urged the country's government to develop ways to destroy Starlink, accusing it of being a potential military threat. Even if China did permit official Starlink sales in the country, the country’s government would demand SpaceX heavily censor content on the satellite internet service, which would hold little appeal for Musk, a free speech advocate. Instead, China will likely remain a Starlink-free region alongside Russia, North Korea, and Syria, among a few others.
In the same interview, Musk also floated a pro-China solution to the country’s effort to reclaim Taiwan. “My recommendation...would be to figure out a special administrative zone for Taiwan that is reasonably palatable, probably won’t make everyone happy. And it’s possible, and I think probably, in fact, that they could have an arrangement that’s more lenient than Hong Kong,” Musk said. In other words, Taiwan would reunify with China, but under special conditions.
Musk floated the proposal as a way for the world to avoid a conflict over Taiwan when China has threatened it’ll use military force to take back the island. However, Taiwan’s representative to the US has condemned Musk’s idea. “Taiwan sells many products, but our freedom and democracy are not for sale,” wrote Hsiao Bi-khim on Twitter.