Taiwan's Ministry of Defense sent a brief message after 3:00 p.m. local time to all the cell phones of all its inhabitants, accompanied by a strident alarm that sounded throughout the island. The "presidential alert" warned the population of the possibility of debris falling from the sky, and described the projectile as a "satellite" in Chinese, and a "missile" in English.
Taiwan's Defense Ministry later blamed "negligence" for the mistaken reference to a missile. He also said the rocket had passed at high altitude over Taiwanese airspace. Taiwan's main opposition party, the Kuomintang, criticized the alert, saying it had misled public opinion.
China's state news agency Xinhua said China had launched "a new astronomical satellite" called Einstein Probe, from the southwestern province of Sichuan. According to Chinese state media, the probe will be dedicated to conducting research in astrophysics and high-energy astronomy.
Although Chinese satellite launches have flown over Taiwan in the past, the latest episode raises fears that it could be part of Beijing's efforts to intimidate the island's voters just days before Saturday's elections. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen warned in November that the democracy of some 23 million people faces "increasing military intimidation, gray zone campaigns, cyber attacks and information manipulation" by China.
Beijing has refused to hold talks with Tsai during her nearly eight years in power because it does not recognize Taiwan as part of China. In addition, since August 2022, it has carried out two important military exercises around the island, which it claims as part of its territory, because Tsai met with senior legislators from the United States, a great ally of Taiwan. In recent years, China has stepped up economic and diplomatic pressure on its government, for example by convincing nations to switch official recognition to Beijing.
The Taiwanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Joseph Wu, who was giving a press conference before dozens of foreign journalists at the time of the alert, described the launch as a "provocation" towards Taiwan, like the recent cases of Chinese balloons sighted over the island.
"All these kinds of tactics are classified as activities that continue to remind people here in Taiwan that there is a danger of war between Taiwan and China," Wu told reporters. "With this type of threats against Taiwan, I think we must have clear ideas, we must not allow ourselves to be provoked," he added.
