Taiwan lawmakers to remove legal hurdles for Starlink to operate

Taiwanese lawmakers are poised to alter existing legislation, paving the way for Elon Musk's Starlink to offer its satellite internet services on the island. This strategic move is driven by Taiwan's urgent need to bolster its communication infrastructure against the persistent threat of invasion from Beijing.

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To put it bluntly, if a cross-strait conflict were to break out and CCP (Beijing) cut all of Taiwan’s submarine cables... Taiwan would have virtually no means of communicating with the outside world.

Currently, Taiwan's Telecommunications Management Act imposes strict rules, such as requiring a Taiwanese chairperson and limiting foreign ownership to 49 percent. These regulations have acted as significant barriers, preventing Starlink, a dominant player in global satellite communications, from entering the Taiwanese market. Lawmakers plan to introduce a case-by-case review process that could grant exemptions to companies like Starlink.

Legislators emphasize the critical importance of this change for national security. Kuomintang (KMT) legislator Huang Chien-hao stated bluntly that if a cross-strait conflict were to erupt and China cut Taiwan's submarine cables, the island would be left with "virtually no means of communicating with the outside world." He pointed to the role of Starlink in transmitting information during recent conflicts, underscoring its value for maintaining external communication lines.

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We’ve also seen in the recent wars, including the Iran-US war, the war between Ukraine and Russia, and during the initial unrest in Iran, much of the information the outside world received was transmitted through Starlink satellite.

The proposed amendments have garnered bipartisan support, having passed a parliamentary committee with backing from the KMT, Taiwan People's Party, and President Lai Ching-te's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Lawmakers anticipate the amendments will be passed by parliament after a third reading, potentially as early as July 17. KMT lawmaker Ko Ju-chun stressed the goal of achieving "diversified satellite services," asserting that Taiwan requires robust internet connectivity for its safety and security.

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That’s why this is essential for national communications resilience.

Taiwan has already experienced disruptions due to severed undersea cables, such as the incident in February 2023 that affected the outlying Matsu archipelago for weeks. The island has also closely observed Ukraine's reliance on Starlink as a vital communication tool for its forces battling Russia, further reinforcing the perceived necessity of such services for national resilience.

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Our goal is to have diversified satellite services.