Taiwan is looking to work with Amazon for the company’s new Kuiper broadband internet constellation of satellites, the island’s technology minister said on Tuesday, as the island looks to build communications resilience amid heightened aggression from China.
Beijing views the self-rules island as its own territory and has not ruled out a possible invasion as a means to gain control of the island.
This month, China sent its biggest naval fleet into regional waters in nearly three decades, according to Taiwanese defence officials.
Also on AF: US ‘Looking to Ban Sales of China’s TP-Link Routers’
Taipei, meanwhile, has been looking at plans to preserve communications if China attacks, including satellites in medium and low Earth orbit for internet services, similar to Ukraine’s use of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite broadband service.
The Taiwanese government was previously also in talks with Starlink, but negotiations reportedly fell apart over the island’s requirement that a local entity have a majority share in any potential joint venture.
Speaking to reporters, Taiwan Technology and Science Minister Wu Cheng-wen said the bandwidth for the island’s existing OneWeb satellite service was too small.
There are other Western companies Taiwan could work with, including in Europe and Canada, he said, without giving names, but said Amazon had the product that was most far along in its development.
“Amazon’s Kuiper is the most mature in the development stage so far, so we are discussing at this moment whether its possible to have a collaboration,” Wu added, without elaborating.
Amazon, which plans a network of more than 3,000 satellites that will compete with SpaceX’s Starlink, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Taiwan has also been sending its own satellites into space using rockets fired by foreign companies including Arianespace, a joint venture of Airbus and Safran.
But the island wants to be able to use its own rockets, and Wu said officials expect to make a decision around late March on a launch pad location, probably along its far southeast coast where the military has missile firing ranges.
It will then take about five years before the site is operational, he added.
- Reuters, with additional editing and inputs from Vishakha Saxena
Also read:
China Unveils Video of Simulated Invasion of Taiwan
Taiwan Invasion ‘Could Wipe Off up to $1 Trillion Per Year’
Trump Says He’ll Hit China With Big Tariffs if it Takes Taiwan
Tesla Wants Suppliers to Shift Outside China, Taiwan: Report
Congress Wants Musk to Explain Satellite Block in Taiwan – Forbes
Musk’s Hong Kong-Style Taiwan Power-Sharing Plan Shot Down
SpaceX Launches Satellites Able to Beam Signals to Phones
Musk’s SpaceX Sets Launch Record With Latest Starlink Liftoff
Elon Musk’s Starlink to Connect With Planes, Trucks, Ships
China May ‘Need to Destroy’ Musk’s Starlink – SCMP
