The government yesterday issued an air raid alert after the launch of a Chinese satellite launch, of which the trajectory passed through airspace over southern Taiwan.
The Ministry of National Defense issued the warning, accompanied by a shrill alarm ringing across Taiwan, to mobile phones at 3:17pm. It cautioned the public about possible debris tumbling from the sky.
“If any unidentified objects are found, please report that to the police and fire department,” it said.
Photo: Kyodo News via AP
Although the message said “satellite” in Chinese, the English text in the alert called the object that traveled over the nation “a missile,” phrasing that added to the initial anxiety. The ministry later apologized for the “imprecise” choice of words.
While China’s satellite launches have traveled high above Taiwan in the past, the latest episode raises concern it could be part of Beijing’s efforts to intimidate voters just days before Saturday’s presidential and legislative elections.
The ministry said the Chinese rocket flew over the south at a high altitude.
The alert came around the same time Chinese state media confirmed the launch of a science satellite.
Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency said a Long March 2C rocket carrying a “a new astronomical satellite” called the Einstein Probe was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province.
“The satellite successfully entered its predetermined orbit, and the launch mission was a complete success,” China’s state broadcaster said.
China had not previously announced the satellite launch and did not offer any details on its flight plan.
China made two satellite launches on consecutive days early last month from a launch site in Inner Mongolia. Neither of those flew over Taiwan or triggered an alert.
China’s state media described the probe launched as a small satellite dedicated to high-energy astrophysics and astronomy.
In Taipei, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), who was holding a news conference when the shrill alert sounded, described the launch as part of a pattern of harassment toward Taiwan, just like recent cases of Chinese balloons flying over the nation.
“All these kinds of tactics are classified as gray zone activities, [and] continue to remind the people here in Taiwan that there is a danger of war between Taiwan and China,” he said.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who was at a campaign event in Kaohsiung, urged the public not to worry.
“It is alright. The president is here, with all of you,” she later wrote on Facebook, adding that the alert was part of information transparency in a democratic society.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) criticized the government for sending a “misleading” alert.
“This is the first time I’ve heard that a satellite launch could prompt national warnings,” Chu said.
“Maybe everyone was startled, thinking it was a missile, only to realize it was a satellite,” he added.
He said the ministry was attempting to mislead the public by issuing the alert.
Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) defended the issuance of the alert, saying that the government has a responsibility to inform the public.
Meanwhile, Taiwan People’s Party presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday that it was vital for the government to review its standard operating procedures in handling such a matter.
He also called for the establishment of a "hotline" between Taipei and Beijing similar to the Moscow- Washington link during the Cold War to allow for direct communication between leaders.
Additional reportional by CNA
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
EVA Airways president Sun Chia-ming (孫嘉明) and other senior executives yesterday bowed in apology over the death of a flight attendant, saying the company has begun improving its health-reporting, review and work coordination mechanisms. “We promise to handle this matter with the utmost responsibility to ensure safer and healthier working conditions for all EVA Air employees,” Sun said. The flight attendant, a woman surnamed Sun (孫), died on Friday last week of undisclosed causes shortly after returning from a work assignment in Milan, Italy, the airline said. Chinese-language media reported that the woman fell ill working on a Taipei-to-Milan flight on Sept. 22
COUNTERMEASURE: Taiwan was to implement controls for 47 tech products bound for South Africa after the latter downgraded and renamed Taipei’s ‘de facto’ offices The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is still reviewing a new agreement proposed by the South African government last month to regulate the status of reciprocal representative offices, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. Asked about the latest developments in a year-long controversy over Taiwan’s de facto representative office in South Africa, Lin during a legislative session said that the ministry was consulting with legal experts on the proposed new agreement. While the new proposal offers Taiwan greater flexibility, the ministry does not find it acceptable, Lin said without elaborating. The ministry is still open to resuming retaliatory measures against South
1.4nm WAFERS: While TSMC is gearing up to expand its overseas production, it would also continue to invest in Taiwan, company chairman and CEO C.C. Wei said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has applied for permission to construct a new plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區), which it would use for the production of new high-speed wafers, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council, which supervises three major science parks in Taiwan, confirmed that the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau had received an application on Friday from TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, to commence work on the new A14 fab. A14 technology, a 1.4 nanometer (nm) process, is designed to drive artificial intelligence transformation by enabling faster computing and greater power
RSS