US President Donald Trump has insisted that the Pentagon's top-secret plan for a potential conflict with China was not shared with Elon Musk because the world's richest man has business interests in the country.
President Trump said on March 21: "I don't want to show it to anybody. We're talking about a potential conflict with China. Certainly a businessman who is helping us a lot will not see it. Billionaire Elon Musk has businesses in China. And he will probably be vulnerable to that."
US President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk (right)
"We don't want a potential war with China. But we have contingency plans for how to handle it," Trump added. The US president also praised billionaire Elon Musk's help in cutting government costs.
US President Trump asserted that The New York Times article was "totally false" and emphasized that "fake news is the enemy of the people". He affirmed that Mr. Musk had not been informed by the Pentagon about any issues related to China.
Previously, The New York Times reported on March 20 that billionaire Elon Musk would attend a meeting of the US Department of Defense to discuss plans for scenarios in case of conflict with China.
Faced with the above situation, billionaire Elon Musk met with US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and called for the prosecution of any defense department official who disclosed "malicious false information" about the above contact.
“I look forward to prosecuting those at the Pentagon who knowingly leaked false information to The New York Times . They will be found,” Musk wrote on the X platform before his meeting with Hegseth.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that Mr Musk would visit the Pentagon on March 21, but said the informal meeting would focus on innovation and efficiency, not “top secret plans for potential conflict with China”. “The media reports are false. There is no conflict plan. There is no secret plan,” Reuters quoted Mr Hegseth as saying.
According to The Guardian , Mr. Trump's statement is considered a rare admission that billionaire Musk faces conflicts of interest in his role as a senior adviser to the US president. Billionaire Musk has long-standing business ties with China, raising concerns about his influence in Washington's moves toward Beijing.
Musk's electric car company Tesla has two facilities in Shanghai, while China is also the company's second-largest market.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/ong-trump-bac-tin-ti-phu-musk-nam-duoc-ke-hoach-chien-tranh-mat-cua-my-185250322081302237.htm
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