The success of the use of satellite communications during the war in Ukraine made a great impression on the officials of Taiwan. The country is threatened by the invasion of China. If it really happens on the island, they are going to use not only Starlink, but also other Ukrainian innovations.
Chinese threat to Taiwan and Ukraine
The beginning of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine has sharply increased the fears of the authorities of the Republic of China on the island of Taiwan that the PRC will act similarly to them. Chinese troops significantly outnumber them, so for the past few months the world has been waiting for a new large-scale conflict to break out in East Asia.
The PRC responded to the visit of the Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan with large-scale exercises with cruise missile firing. But it did not dare to open aggression. And this prompted Taipei to study more closely the experience of Ukraine in the confrontation with Russia.
Taiwan is interested in the experience of using Starlink
First of all, Taiwan is interested in the experience of using satellite Internet in war conditions. Russia began the invasion with an attack on satellite networks and the mass destruction of mobile communication towers. At the request of the Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov, Elon Musk quickly activated Starlink for Ukraine and began mass deliveries of terminals for it.
They began to be used not only by the military to establish communication in the conditions of electronic counteraction of the Russians, but also by civilians in territories that had recently been liberated from the enemy. As a result, Ukraine has become one of the world’s largest users of this communication system.
Taiwan is going to use the same tactics in case of a potential conflict with China. The government has already allocated USD 18 million to high-tech companies to deploy their own communication satellites in high and medium orbits. It is still not clear whether there will be a Starlink in Taiwan, but local companies are already negotiating with foreign operators to provide satellite communication services.
Humor and drones will save Taiwan
The most important success of Starlink is considered to be providing the population with objective information. This prevented Russia from using its disinformation and propaganda machine at full capacity. Taiwan expects that China will also use social networks as a weapon and is preparing to counteract them in this area.
In particular, Taiwan drew attention to how Ukraine uses humor to resist information aggression from Russia. Memes on social networks will really help unite the population, fragmented by the atmosphere of fear and uncertainty broadcast by the enemy.
Taiwan is also very interested in the experience of military use of the facial recognition system and drones. But the details of how the Ukrainian experience in this area will be used on the island are not reported.
According to eurasiantimes.com
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