Taipei –
Launch China satellite triggered an emergency alert in Taiwan. The alert apparently misidentified the threat, as the Chinese satellite launch vehicle was mistakenly detected as a missile.
The alarm sounds and provides a warning in English and Mandarin and is rolled out to all smartphones in Taiwan as an Early Warning System (EWS) at 3:00 PM Taiwan time, Tuesday (09/01/2023). The content of the warning in the message linked to the EWS is the danger of missile threats crossing Taiwan.
At the same time, China was launching its own satellite at the Xichang launch facility in Sichuan province, as cited detikINET from the Guardian.
China gave Taiwan no advance notice of the launch. Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense also deemed the trajectory of the satellite launch vehicle to be “anomalous” because it was flying southeast across the southern tip of Taiwan.
“The military immediately used the national warning system to tell people to be alert,” Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said.
The activation of the emergency alert in Taiwan comes at a time when Taiwan fears a presidential election will be held on Saturday under the threat of China reclaiming its territory.
Due to the alert being triggered, Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense also apologized for the content of the notice in English which mentioned a missile threat. The Taiwanese military says these actions comply with applicable emergency response regulations related to national air defense alerts.
Taiwan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu said China’s launch of a satellite into Taiwan’s airspace ahead of the presidential election was a “gray zone activity.” Gray zone activity is a situation that presents a risk of peace or war in a region, as reported by the Atlantic Council.
Watch the video “Seconds China launches new satellite for ocean observation”
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2024-01-11 00:42:03
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