---
title: "Taiwan Sets Off Air Raid Siren as Chinese Satellite Flies Overhead"
description: "Before important elections in Taiwan, the island nation sent out an air raid for a Chinese satellite flying overhead."
date: "2024-01-09"
modified: "2024-01-09"
authors:
  - name: "Sharon Adarlo"
    job_title: "Correspondent"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/sadarlo"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/taiwan-air-raid-chinese-satellite"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "china"
  - "satellite"
  - "taiwan"
  - "the digest"
---

# Taiwan Sets Off Air Raid Siren as Chinese Satellite Flies Overhead

![Before important elections in Taiwan, the island nation sent out an air raid for a Chinese satellite flying overhead.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/taiwan-air-raid-chinese-satellite-1.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Getty / Futurism\</em\>*

## Strange Skies

During the runup to important elections in Taiwan, the island nation sent out its first ever air raid for a Chinese satellite flying over its airspace, making residents nervous and prompting politicians to point fingers, [according to the *Reuters*](<https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taiwan-alert-says-chinese-satellite-flies-over-south-taiwan-airspace-2024-01-09/>).

The Taiwanese government sent mass texts labeled "air raid alert" to the public's cellphones on Tuesday. In English, the message read: "Missile flyover Tawain airpsace, be aware," while the message in Chinese described it as a "satellite launch by China."

These messages were sent out as China rocket launched a science satellite called the Einstein Probe, which carries specialized telescopes meant to investigate cosmic phenomena such as black holes and light from supernova events, [according to Chinese state media outlet *Xinhua*](<https://english.news.cn/20240109/60860cdd820447feb207911daf95b91b/c.html>).

The satellite lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the Sichuan Province of China, *Xinhua* reports.

## Political Rumbles

Taiwanese officials said the satellite was not a simple benign science launch, but was meant to remind the Taiwanese of China's power, *Reuters* reports. The communist government in China has long claimed Taiwan as part of its territory though residents have governed themselves since 1949 — ever since the end of the [Chinese Civil War](<https://www.britannica.com/event/Chinese-Civil-War>) that pitted forces loyal to General Chiang Kai-shek against the prevailing communists led by Mao Zedong.

But with the launch of the satellite coming just before [Taiwan's presidential elections](<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/08/taiwan-election-who-candidates-what-stake>) this Saturday, the main opposition party Kuomintang Party (KMT) criticized the incumbent Democratic Progressive Party for using the air raid warning as a political ploy, the [*BBC* reports](<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-67920168>).

"This is the first time I heard that launching a satellite can trigger such an alert," said KMT chairman Eric Chu. "Everyone was possibly shocked, thinking it was a missile, but it turned out to be a satellite... So I think the Ministry of National Defense is trying to mislead the public by issuing such an alert."

Regardless of the motivations behind the air raid warning, [Taiwan has long accused China](<https://www.reuters.com/world/china/taiwan-says-43-chinese-air-force-planes-crossed-taiwan-strait-median-line-2022-12-26/>) of violating its airspace via fighter jets, drones and other craft.

**More on satellites:** [*Videos Show Chinese Rocket Parts Raining Down, Exploding*](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/videos-chinese-rocket-parts-residential-area>)