BBC News Top Stories-World China satellite launch over Taiwan triggers islandwide alert
January 9, 2024 2 min 332 words
这则报道引发了广泛关注，中国在台湾上空发射卫星，激发了全岛警戒。这次事件涉及政治、安全和国际关系多个层面。台湾外长吴钊燮将这一举动称为“灰色地带”活动，尤其是在选举前发生，引发对民众安全的担忧。对于这次突发事件，台湾政府首次发布全岛性的警报，引起了社会的震动。反对党主席朱立伦则指责执政党煽动恐慌，对警报中使用“导弹”一词表示不满。此次事件发生在台湾关键的总统和立法选举前几天，分析人士认为这将影响北京和华盛顿之间的关系走向。中国Einstein Probe卫星的任务由欧空局、中国科学院和马克斯·普朗克天体物理研究所合作完成，旨在观察宇宙中神秘的瞬时现象。这一事件再次突显了在台海地区紧张局势下，地缘政治因素对科学合作的影响。
Taiwan authorities said on Tuesday afternoon that a Chinese satellite had flown over southern Taiwan's airspace.
Mobile phone users across Taiwan received an "air raid alert" warning them to "be aware for your safety".
The satellite was launched off the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in China's Sichuan province at 15:03 local time, Taiwan's defence ministry said.
Chinese broadcaster CCTV confirmed a satellite named Einstein Probe had been launched from the centre.
It added that the launch mission was a "complete success".
Taiwan's foreign minister Joseph Wu said the launch of a satellite (over Taiwanese airspace) so close to the election is a "greyzone" activity, Reuters news agency reported.
Taiwan said its defence ministry is tracking the trajectory of the satellite to "appropriately alert and respond" to the situation.
Taiwanese media say this is the first time its government has flashed an islandwide alert of this nature.
Eric Chu, the chairman of Taiwan's main opposition party Kuomintang (KMT), accused the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) government of fear-mongering, especially with the use of the term "missile" in the English version of the alert. It read: "[Air raid alert] Missile flyover Taiwan airspace, be aware."
The incident comes days before pivotal presidential and legislative elections in Taiwan, which analysts have said will shape the trajectory of ties between Beijing and Washington.
According to the European Space Agency, the Einstein Probe is a partnership between the agency, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics.
The satellite will "observe mysterious transient phenomena in the universe comparable to the flickering of fireworks, with the aim of unveiling the violent and little-known aspects of the cosmos", China's Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday.
In December, Taiwanese media had also reported on Chinese carrier rockets passing over the island. A Focus Taiwan report published on 10 December said a carrier rocket, also launched from Xichang had passed over southwestern Taiwan in outer space.