Lower thirds:

00:56: Melissa Chan, DW Correspondent
01:32: Yu-Jiu Wang, CEO, Tron Future
02:34: William Yang, Senior Analyst, International Crisis Group
02:59: William Yang, Senior Analyst, International Crisis Group

Script:

First, a crash course on satellites. They come in many sizes these days, sent into space on rockets that launch them into  different orbits for different functions.
Elon Musk’s Starlink operates in lower earth orbit to provide space-based internet connections. It dominates the field, with more than 7,000 satellites circling the globe in a constellation. Europe’s Eutelsat is the second biggest space internet operator — but with just over 600 satellites — it doesn’t even come close.

This means that in times of crisis, Starlink can call the shots. And it does — in parts of Ukraine. You can see here… where the operator has restricted use particularly along the frontline, and areas occupied by Russian forces. And this — this is what no country wants: to lose control.
 
00:56: Melissa Chan, DW Correspondent
Satellite internet services are extra important in wartime. Especially here in Taiwan — where recently some of the undersea cables around the island have been sabotaged, most likely by China. We’ve just arrived at Tron Future, a Taiwanese defense startup. They’ve told us… they can’t show us THAT much because… it’s all top secret. But let’s see what they say.
 
Tron Future, is part of a coordinated effort to make this island more satellite self-reliant.

(Melissa)
“So — tell us about what this is?”

01:32: Yu-Jiu Wang, CEO, Tron Future
“This is some of the early products we developed for TASA. It’s —”

(Melissa)
“For the space agency.”

(Yu-Jiu Wang)
“For the space agency, for TASA, Taiwan’s space agency. So this is a downlink transmitter. It is used for remote sensing satellites… This is a payload, it’s just part of a satellite… For this particular case, it’s a communication system.”

(Melissa)
“Is it possible to get China out of the entire supply chain when it comes to something like satellite technology?

(Yu-Jiu Wang)
“From day one, there was no Chinese parts within our products, basically.”

(Melissa)
“What’s your capacity like right now if suddenly — you got an order for a thousand parts of something critical in a satellite — would you be able to do that? Or ten thousand?”

(Yu-Jiu Wang)
“So we will be able to produce a few hundred of these per month, this year basically.”

William Yang is with the International Crisis Group. He says Taiwan is at the infancy stage of capabilities.

02:34: William Yang, Senior Analyst, International Crisis Group
“They have been making a lot of progress in recent years, but when it comes to sophistication, I think we are still definitely not entirely there yet.”
 
02:46: Companies such as Europe’s Eutelsat offer Taiwan an interim solution for lower earth orbit services. With some analysts saying Beijing might invade as soon as 2027, there’s no time to waste in setting up non-Starlink alternatives.

02:59: William Yang, Senior Analyst, International Crisis Group
“One key reason for Taiwan to work on diversifying its satellite provider is because of the potential vulnerability of relying on one sole provider who may have a conflict of interest with their other business interest in China.”
 
03:22: With just one satellite of its own so far, Taiwan has its work cut out. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shown the world how much modern warfare relies on not just what’s happening on the ground, but what’s happening… up above.

03:35: This video shows the satellites passing over China and Taiwan at any given moment. Pull out, and you get a sense of just how many there are, and how daunting the challenge is for countries at a disadvantage. A fact that has propelled many governments — not just Taiwan’s — to get going, in this satellite space race.
 
--END--