Taiwan issues alert over China satellite as poll ramps up security fears

Taiwan issued a national emergency alert as China launched a satellite, days before the self-ruled island holds a crucial presidential election that has heightened security worries.

Taiwan issued a national emergency alert on January 9 as China launched a satellite, days before the self-ruled island holds a crucial presidential election that has heightened security worries.

The alert came hours after election front-runner Lai Ching-te, Taiwan's current vice president, accused Beijing of using "all means" to influence this weekend's poll, which will set the course of cross-strait ties for the next four years.

Phones across Taiwan blared with a "presidential alert" at about 3:15 p.m. (0715 GMT), around the time Beijing announced the successful launch of its Einstein Probe satellite, which it says will gather astronomical data.

"China launched [a] satellite which flew over the southern airspace," said Taiwan's alert in Chinese, urging the public to stay safe.

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The English part of the message described it as an "air raid alert" warning of a "missile flyover Taiwan airspace", but officials said this was a mistranslation.

The Defence Ministry later apologised for the mistake, saying the default message in English had not been updated.