TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — If China’s Long March rocket appears set to crash near Taiwan, the country will be ready, Science and Technology Minister Wu Tsung-tsong (吳政忠) told lawmakers Thursday (May 6).

The Long March 5B launched a Chinese space station module last week but is now poised to make an uncontrolled re-entry, with a crash landing likely before May 10.

Addressing fears that the 30-meter rocket could land in densely populated Taiwan, Wu said the authorities would know a day or two beforehand and that the necessary procedures would be implemented.

The minister said that science would help determine the route and the destination of the space debris, though there is always the possibility that the final prediction will have to be adjusted, CNA reported.

International media have faulted China for failing to provide sufficient details about the Long March 5B. Meanwhile, the communist country’s state-controlled media has blamed Western media for exaggerating the issue.

In May of last year, debris from a previous Long March rocket fell on villages in the West African nation of Ivory Coast, Forbes reported.