Taiwan wants and needs Starlink, but local law is blocking a deal
After three years of discussions, negotiations between Taiwan and SpaceX to provide Starlink to that nation broke off in 2022 because of a local Taiwanese law that requires local ownership of at least 51%.
SpaceX would not agree to these conditions, and ended the negotiations. In response, Taiwan has been struggling to get its own communications satellite into orbit, with limited success.
To address that vulnerability, the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) intends to launch its first self-made low-Earth orbit communication satellite in 2026 and at least one more by 2028, Director General Wu Jong-shinn said. Taiwan also will have rockets capable of carrying payloads weighing over 100 kilograms, he added in an interview.
Since the country doesn’t yet have those rockets, this plan remains dependent on foreign launchers. Moreover, to be effective in low-orbit will require not two satellites but a constellation of 20 to 30. Taiwan is years from being to launch such a constellation.
It seems Taiwan is cutting off its nose to spite its face by not changing this ownership law. Its entire internet access is dependent on 14 undersea cables, and China has already demonstrated the ability to destroy these cables when it cut two in February. No foreign operation is going to give up its ownership to make a deal in Taiwan.
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After three years of discussions, negotiations between Taiwan and SpaceX to provide Starlink to that nation broke off in 2022 because of a local Taiwanese law that requires local ownership of at least 51%.
SpaceX would not agree to these conditions, and ended the negotiations. In response, Taiwan has been struggling to get its own communications satellite into orbit, with limited success.
To address that vulnerability, the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) intends to launch its first self-made low-Earth orbit communication satellite in 2026 and at least one more by 2028, Director General Wu Jong-shinn said. Taiwan also will have rockets capable of carrying payloads weighing over 100 kilograms, he added in an interview.
Since the country doesn’t yet have those rockets, this plan remains dependent on foreign launchers. Moreover, to be effective in low-orbit will require not two satellites but a constellation of 20 to 30. Taiwan is years from being to launch such a constellation.
It seems Taiwan is cutting off its nose to spite its face by not changing this ownership law. Its entire internet access is dependent on 14 undersea cables, and China has already demonstrated the ability to destroy these cables when it cut two in February. No foreign operation is going to give up its ownership to make a deal in Taiwan.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Related:
https://dailycaller.com/2023/07/07/elon-musks-tesla-signs-socialist-values-pact-with-chinese-counterparts/
This social values pact will be used by the CCP to eliminate foreign control of Tesla’s technology in China…ie nationalization of Tesla, China.
Something to understand about China: https://youtu.be/wJ8JBTIVUVw
This is the problem with a command economy, it is based in insane Communist / Socialist / Capitalist theory.
Why is it necessary to lie and cheat?
Because they have to le and cheat.
Reagan and Nixon capitalism was based on cheap Communist labor…so it’s a wash.
And factories closed here.
Yeah…real hero’s those two.
When my old company bought several Chinese manufacturing plants we also signed the same type of social deal.
Over all it not a terrible deal.
It has NO effect on anything outside of China.
It does require a company do local charity work to gain credits.
They lose credits if their facilities are found to be unsafe in any way. We immediately updated those new plants to American safety and fire standards.
The plants though did come with residency campuses for the workers. Cheap collage like dorms with restaurants and shops. We upgraded those for the workers. It turned out it brought them up to the best in the province. Sold off the shops and eateries. Eventually added sports fields.
It turned out it was all cheaper than a simple raise for the employees. And they liked it.
In the end it was nothing more onerous than Californian environmental regulations, business fees, fines and taxes.
On its face, the Tesla deal may not be to bad. The same goes for many other deals in China. The problem is that China has no checks and balances. The Communist party can enforce the deal on Tesla, but there is no way for Tesla to enforce the deal on the Communist party. Nothing stops the party from using such tools as selective enforcement to further its own interests, or the interests of some venal official.
Its the same here in America.
I have seen environmental laws applied very differently depending on the company being targeted.
The same with employment laws and pretty much just about everything.
Heck even I have used a little personal influence in my life. I used my grandfathers rank to keep out of the dirty jobs in basic and AIT. After that I,,,,,,, well lets drop that one.
But yes America can be just as corrupt as anyplace if not watched.
China could use the parties power and political officials could use the social policy against them, but the old are they will not because they want foreign investors just as much as anyone else in the rest of the world.
Just like in the rest of the world. Money is power. He who has it can bend the powers to be their way when they need to.
Good people know they have that power but do either do not use it or keep it very very quiet.
Bad people will inevitably abuse the power.