Two US lawmakers on Saturday said they discussed the possibility of bringing Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system into Taiwan with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), to help Taipei’s deterrence against China.
US Representative Michael McCaul, chairman of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, and US Representative French Hill, among a congressional delegation that visited Taipei last week, said it was one of the “constructive takeaways” in their talks with Tsai on Saturday.
The Presidential Office said it had no comment on Starlink, but issued a statement saying that McCaul and his delegation met with Taiwanese leaders from various industries including semiconductors and aerospace technology.
Photo: AFP
The Republican lawmakers did not say if they had discussed the idea with Musk or Starlink, the fleet operated and launched by the billionaire’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp, which has more than 3,000 satellites in orbit.
Last year, Musk angered Taipei by proposing his own solution for the tensions between China and Taiwan — handing some control to Beijing.
He also said then that Beijing had sought assurances that he would not offer Starlink’s Internet service in China.
“Communist China is very good at what we call intelligence surveillance reconnaissance,” McCaul told reporters on Saturday. “They have great eyes on — they can see everything in the Pacific. In some cases, better than we can in this area. Taiwan has none of that.”
Taiwan would benefit from Starlink’s satellites because of vulnerabilities in its undersea cables, Hill said, adding that it would have to make a national security exception for the company to operate.
The visit by the US congressional delegation, which arrived on Thursday and departed on Saturday, was part of a larger visit to the Indo-Pacific region, the American Institute in Taiwan said.
‘ANGRY’: Forgetting the humiliations and sacrifices of ‘the people of the Republic of China’ experienced disqualified Lai from being president, Ma Ying-jeou said Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday criticized President William Lai (賴清德) over what he called “phrasing that downplayed Japan’s atrocities” against China during World War II. Ma made the remarks in a post on Facebook on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Ma said he was “angry and disappointed” that Lai described the anniversary as the end of World War II instead of a “victory in the war of resistance” — a reference to the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). The eight-year war was a part of World War II, in which Japan and the other Axis
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday announced a ban on all current and former government officials from traveling to China to attend a military parade on Sept. 3, which Beijing is to hold to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War. "This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the Republic of China’s victory in the War of Resistance [Against Japan]," MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a regular news briefing in Taipei. To prevent Beijing from using the Sept. 3 military parade and related events for "united
‘OFFSHORE OPERATIONS’: Also in Dallas, Texas, the Ministry of Economic Affairs inaugurated its third Taiwan Trade and Investment Center to foster closer cooperation The 2025 Taiwan Expo USA opened on Thursday in Dallas, Texas, featuring 150 Taiwanese companies showcasing their latest technologies in the fields of drones, smart manufacturing and healthcare. The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), the event’s organizer, said the exhibitors this year include Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (Foxconn), the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer; AUO; PC brand Asustek Computer; and drone maker Thunder Tiger. In his opening speech, TAITRA chairman James Huang (黃志芳) said he expected Texas to become a world-class center for innovation and manufacturing as US technology companies from Silicon Valley and Taiwanese manufacturers form an industrial cluster
A 20-year-old man yesterday evening was electrocuted and fell to his death after he climbed a seven-story-high electricity tower to photograph the sunset, causing a wildfire on Datong Mountain (大同山) in New Taipei City’s Shulin District (樹林), the Taoyuan Police Department said today. The man, surnamed Hsieh (謝), was accompanied on an evening walk by a 20-year-old woman surnamed Shang (尚) who remained on the ground and witnessed the incident, capturing a final photograph of her friend sitting atop the tower before his death, an initial investigation showed. Shang then sought higher ground to call for help, police said. The New Taipei
RSS