Taiwan issues air raid alert to phones as China launches satellite over island

Warning reading ‘missile flyover Taiwan airspace’ flashed across mobile phones as citizens urged to take caution

China has launched a satellite over Taiwan’s southern airspace without providing prior warning, prompting the Taiwanese defence ministry to issue an island-wide air raid alert to its citizens.

The satellite was fired at 3.03pm local time from western China’s Xichang Satellite Launch Centre, reported Chinese state TV. Broadcaster CCTV described the launch as a success, without specifying the nature of the satellite.

Officials in Taiwan issued an urgent island-wide alert to mobile phone users on Tuesday afternoon. The warning read: “[Air raid alert] Missile flyover Taiwan airspace, be aware”, according to photos shared on social media.

The Taiwanese defence ministry’s short message did not give any additional details.

The description of the incident as a “missile flyover” in the English-language portion of the alert appeared to be a mistranslation.

Taiwanese foreign minister Joseph Wu clarified that it was a satellite launch at an international news conference he was present at when the alerts went off.

Mr Wu asked journalists not to worry and proceeded with the news conference.

Later the same hour, officials at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation announced a successful launch of a powerful space X-ray observatory.

It said the observatory, named the “Einstein Probe”, will help Beijing monitor flashes in the night sky and aid its advance understanding of cosmic events relating to black holes and collisions between neutron stars.

The observatory lifted off on a Long March -2C rocket from the satellite launch centre in Sichuan province at 3.05pm local time, the corporation announced.

Tuesday’s warning message comes just days before Taiwan is set to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on Saturday, in a vote that has been overshadowed by China’s increasingly bullish activity around the island.

China does not recognise Taiwan’s elections or government and views the island as a breakaway province. President Xi Jinping has repeatedly vowed “reunification” with the island, and has said this will be done by force if necessary.