SpaceX Refutes Claim It’s Withholding Starshield in Taiwan

Dana Hull, Bloomberg News

The Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) logo is displayed on a spacesuit ahead of the NASA Commercial Crew Program (CCP) astronaut visit at the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, U.S., on Monday, Aug. 13, 2018. Astronauts on SpaceX's Crew Dragon will be the first to fly on an American-made, commercial spacecraft to and from the International Space Station on their mission scheduled for April 2019. Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. said Monday that it’s “in full compliance with all of its US government contracts” in response to a letter from a member of Congress alleging that SpaceX was withholding its Starshield Internet service in Taiwan.

Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican who chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, sent a letter to Musk on Feb. 24 concerning Starshield, which provides the US government with a secure satellite network.

“Multiple sources have disclosed to the Committee that Starshield is inactive in and around Taiwan,” reads the letter. “Ensuring robust communications networks for US military personnel on and around Taiwan is paramount for safeguarding US interests in the Indo-Pacific region.”

The letter was first reported by Forbes.