The issuance on Tuesday of a nationwide air raid alert about the launch of a Chinese satellite was not “politically motivated” or designed to influence voters, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
The ministry said it issued the alert due to the “odd” trajectory of the rocket, which would arc over Taiwan proper.
While the alert in Mandarin said “satellite,” in English, it said “missile flyover.”
Photo: CNA
The ministry said it would review its processes to determine whether alerts are necessary in such scenarios, adding that it is not aligned with any political party.
According to the Web site rocketlaunch.live, China is today to launch two rockets, one from the Yellow Sea and one from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu Province.
Tuesday’s launch was from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province, the Web site says.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday said that the ministry was attempting to influence the outcome of Saturday’s legislative and presidential elections with the alert.
KMT presidential candidate New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) called the alert a ploy and an abuse of government power to trick people into voting for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
He said it was odd that the ministry did not issue an alert when China launched actual missiles after the August 2022 visit of then-US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The decision to issue the alert negatively affected national security, as it misled the public into believing that China had launched missiles, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said.
The timing of the alert — especially when the government did not issue air raid alerts during previous Chinese rocket launches — raises concerns that the decision was made for political reasons, Chu said.
Taiwan People’s Party Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said the incident should be treated as a drill and the government should learn from the results.
However, Ko said he was concerned with comments by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who at a DPP campaign event in Kaohsiung when the alert was issued said: “It is alright. The president is here, with all of you.”
He also said he doubted that the public knew what to do in the event of an actual air raid situation.
Taiwan AI Labs said that numerous online comments about the incident might have been part of a concerted effort to connect the alert with the perception that the government is attempting to intervene in the upcoming elections.
The organization also recorded a large number of videos shared online from Dec. 30 to Saturday last week that might have been generated by artificial intelligence as part of smear campaigns against certain candidates, Taiwan AI Labs founder Ethan Tu (杜奕瑾) said.
As the election draws closer, the messages of these videos and posts are increasingly in step with Beijing’s, Tu said.
However, such efforts are not guaranteed to succeed, he added.
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