TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s defense ministry has apologized for an emergency “Presidential Alert” sent to cellphones in Taiwan on Tuesday (Jan. 9) that erroneously labeled a Chinese satellite launch as a "missile flyover (in) Taiwan’s airspace" in English, causing concerns about how such a mistake could be made.
China launched a satellite for astronomical observation just after 3 p.m. on Tuesday, according to a statement posted on Chinese social media. The Ministry of National Defense (MND) sent out the alert, which, in the accompanying Chinese text, correctly identified the event as a satellite launch.
Just after 4 p.m., the ministry issued an apology, and said the English language text did not reflect the information provided in Chinese.
“The wording... was not updated simultaneously to accurately express that the launched object was a satellite rather than a missile,” the apology read. “The Ministry of National Defense apologizes to the public."
Text recipients were quick to note the difference between the Chinese and English versions. Bloomberg Taipei Bureau Chief Samson Ellis on his personal X account described “absolute confusion from different government agencies over the alert.”
Ellis also noted that the alert said the satellite flew over southern Taiwan, when the defense ministry later updated it to say it flew over Taiwan’s southwest air defense identification zone. “Why was it triggered? Who in MND triggered it?... No one has a clue," he wrote.
Everyone in #Taiwan just received this text with wildly different meanings. In Chinese it says “Air defence warning: China at 15:04 launched satellite, please pay attention to safety. If an unknown object is found, report to police”.
Taipei Main Station seems normal right now. pic.twitter.com/ljyUiPDyDI
— Kevin Chang 〔錯誤字元無法儲存〕⚖️ (@KevinCChang) January 9, 2024
Political scientist and assistant professor at National Chengchi University Lev Nachman called the message a prime example of how "something can still happen between now and the election," which is on Saturday (Jan. 13). “This was a very sloppy English translation for sure, and MND needs to not do this again,“ Nachman said in a separate X post.
“Not a person, of dozens, in our office took this seriously,” said Mark Simon, a former editor of Apple Daily. “No way anyone is going to make a good case that this was not election-related," he added.
Supermarket chain Carrefour meanwhile, suggested MND staff might need an afternoon wakeup. While the MND alert correctly identified the event as a satellite launch in Chinese, the native wording was potentially misleading regarding its location, appearing to describe it as either flying over Vietnam or Taiwan’s south.
Carrefour’s social media team issued a “sleepyhead alert” in response. “Did you also read it wrong? Drink a cup of Vietnamese coffee in the afternoon for a bit of refreshment,” the Facebook post read.
The confusion causing alert was sent after China launched a satellite for astronomical observation after 3 p.m., according to a statement posted on Chinese social media, per CNA. The rocket carrying the satellite was launched from Sichuan Province’s Xichang Satellite Launch Center.
