Musk's 'Starlink'... Will It Be Introduced to Taiwan After Ukraine?

On April 21 last year (local time), SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket carrying Starlink satellites was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, USA. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Elon Musk's space company SpaceX is considering introducing its satellite internet service 'Starlink,' which is provided to the Ukrainian military, to Taiwan, according to discussions in the U.S. political sphere.

On the 8th (local time), according to Bloomberg News, Michael McCaul, Chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Representative French Hill, who recently visited Taiwan as part of a U.S. congressional delegation, met with President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei to discuss this matter.

Chairman McCaul emphasized the necessity of Starlink, stating, "China, which excels in intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance, can see everything in the Pacific, but Taiwan has nothing like that."

Representative Hill also explained that "considering the vulnerability of Taiwan's undersea cables, Taiwan stands to gain a lot from Starlink," and that special security-related exceptions would need to be made locally for Starlink to operate.

However, it is not yet known whether prior discussions have taken place with Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX.

Musk is reportedly scheduled to visit China this weekend and tour Tesla's factory in Shanghai. Attention is focused on whether Musk will express his position regarding the provision of Starlink to Taiwan during his visit to China.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.