Taiwan opens its skies to Starlink and rivals, betting satellites can ride out a China crisis

Taiwan's legislature passed a bill this week easing foreign ownership of satellite operators, the regulatory change that could let Starlink and other low-Earth-orbit internet services serve the island for the first time. The Taipei Times confirmed the bill's passage; Nikkei Asia first reported the move.

The stated reason is resilience. Taiwan has no satellites of its own in low-Earth orbit, and a cross-strait crisis could sever the submarine cables and terrestrial links that carry most of its internet. A foreign-operated constellation, which is internet beamed from satellites passing overhead, gives Taipei a backup that does not run through undersea cable chokepoints. China has warned against the opening, framing the foreign satellite presence as a sovereignty issue.

Taiwan is not outsourcing its communications to Starlink. The government is also planning a domestic constellation through the Taiwan Space Agency. No license has been issued under the new rules yet. The bill removes the ownership ceiling that had kept foreign operators out; whether Starlink, Amazon's Project Kuiper, or a domestic operator ends up serving Taiwan is an open bid.

Backdrop: PCMag and Newsweek reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin asked Starlink not to deploy in Taiwan, a request that, if accurate, makes the timing of Taipei's policy move harder to read as routine.