TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Kuomintang (KMT) has accused Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of using the country’s air raid warning system to intimidate people, after a message was sent incorrectly labeling a Chinese satellite launch as a missile flyover just after 3 p.m. on Tuesday (Jan. 9).

Shortly after it was sent to all cellphones in Taiwan, Taiwan’s defense ministry apologized for the discrepancy between the Chinese and English information. After the apology, KMT presidential candidate Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) called for an investigation into the mislabeling of the launch within 24 hours, per Storm Media.

Hou asked the DPP to consider how such mistakes could affect Taiwan’s national security. Hou then questioned if the DPP would attribute the mistake to Chinese interference in the upcoming election, as it had with other issues.

A spokesperson for Hou’s campaign that Chinese satellite launches had not triggered such warnings in the past. The spokesperson questioned why the alert had been issued this time, and inferred the DPP may be using China as a means to intimidate people.

A screenshot of the alert was sent on Tuesday afternoon. (Taiwan News image)

DPP presidential candidate Lai Ching-te (賴清德) said he was not worried about the alert message affecting the election, and said the content of the message was “very clear,” per SETN. Lai said the alert was sent based on people’s right to know about the satellite launch.

Meanwhile, Taiwan People’s Party presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said he did not want to think badly of others when asked if the timing of the alert message was related to the election, per CNA. Ko suggested that a China-Taiwan communication line could be established to deal with such situations, similar to the Moscow-Washington hotline used during the Cold War.