GOP rep suggests Musk’s SpaceX is withholding satellite service in Taiwan

Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., suggested that billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX is deliberately withholding satellite service for Taiwan this week.

Gallager, who chairs the House Committee on Competition with China, made the statement in a letter to Musk obtained by the Wall Street Journal late Saturday. The lawmaker noted that any withholding of services to Taiwan may be in violation of its obligations to the U.S. government.

“SpaceX is possibly withholding broadband internet services in and around Taiwan—possibly in breach of SpaceX’s contractual obligations with the U.S. government,” Gallagher wrote in the letter, according to WSJ.

The lawmaker asked Musk to provide further information about the availability of its Starshield program by March 8. Fox Business reached out to SpaceX for comment, but they did not immediately respond.

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Starshield is a sub-program of Starlink that allows further access to satellites for national security communications. The U.S. government has invested some $100 million in Musk’s program, and Gallagher argued that U.S. personnel across the globe should be able to count on it.

Gallagher said he was concerned U.S. officials on Taiwan may not be able to count on the network in the event of Chinese “military aggression against Taiwan.”

Currently, SpaceX’s map of coverage does not include China and lists Taiwan as “coming soon.”

Gallagher’s letter comes just days after he led a bipartisan delegation of lawmakers on a visit to Taiwan last week. Gallagher met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen along with Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill.; John Moolenaar, R-Mich.; Dusty Johnson, R-S.D.; and Seth Moulton, D-Mass.

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“The United States, Democrats and Republicans, stands with Taiwan, for your freedom and for ours,” Gallagher said at a press conference during the visit. “For as Taiwan goes, so goes the world.”

China has long claimed ownership over Taiwan, and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s regime has threatened to unite the island with the mainland by force.

Gallagher’s group also met with Taiwanese Vice President Lai Ching-te. It was the first meeting between him and U.S. lawmakers since he won the island’s presidential election in January.

Lai will succeed Tsai in May.