China's satellite shots of Taipei: what they really show

<p><em>Special Reporting from LSN News, adapted from today's Asia Behind the Headlines episode. <a href="https://youtu.be/jzVVPRN__SE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Watch the video on YouTube.</a></em></p>

<p>"All the streets are clearly visible." That is how Chinese state television described a 42-second satellite video of Taipei that it released on its news app on Sunday, 25 October, according to Taiwan's Central News Agency, citing Japan's Kyodo news agency and ABEMA TIMES. Beijing's images showed the National Palace Museum, the Taipei Dome and the city's main railway station. China's Defence Ministry posted a similar video on its official social media accounts, adding three-dimensional views of Taiwan's mountains and lakes built from satellite data.</p>

<p>On X, posts in Japanese, Chinese and English pushed the release as precise satellite photos of Taiwan released to the world. Taiwan's government saw something else. On Tuesday, Defence Minister Wellington Koo called it "cognitive warfare".</p>

<h2>What the pictures are</h2>

<p>The images came from Jilin-1, a commercial satellite constellation built by Chang Guang Satellite Technology, which state broadcaster CGTN says operates about 141 satellites in orbit. CGTN's own gallery included the Taipei Palace Museum, the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Sun Moon Lake. According to Kyodo, as reported by CNA, the footage was shot and produced with commercial satellites developed by Chinese companies. Chang Guang itself claims, in a China Daily report, to run the world's largest sub-metre commercial remote-sensing constellation and to be able to revisit any point on Earth dozens of times a day; those are company claims.</p>

<p>It is not the first time. The South China Morning Post notes that, for the second straight year, Jilin-1 footage featured prominently in Beijing's messaging around the date. The landmarks on show are famous public sites.</p>

<h2>Why 25 October</h2>

<p>The date carries the message. Japan took Taiwan from China's Qing dynasty in 1895 and ruled it until 1945, when it transferred the island to the Republic of China government; the surrender ceremony was held in Taipei on 25 October 1945. Last October, the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress designated 25 October as the Commemoration Day of Taiwan's Restoration. Its decision called the restoration "a compelling proof of the Chinese government's recovery of sovereignty over Taiwan." This year, the People's Liberation Army's Eastern Theatre Command, which faces Taiwan, added a poster with a map of the island superimposed on fighter jets and warships, titled "Remember the history of the restoration". Japanese media analysed the satellite video as a move to promote Beijing's one-China principle at home and abroad.</p>

<p>Taipei tells the story differently. The Republic of China government received the island in 1945 and fled there in 1949 after losing the civil war to the communists. "The War of Resistance has absolutely nothing to do with the People's Republic of China," Koo told reporters in parliament, stressing that the People's Republic was established in 1949. Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council said the PRC has no historical or legal claim to the date. Taiwan's military marked a different anniversary instead: the start of the failed late-October 1949 invasion attempt on Kinmen by the People's Liberation Army.</p>

<p>Koo also addressed the surveillance angle directly. "The defence ministry will not lower its vigilance at any time regarding all such satellite imagery and related intelligence collection directed at Taiwan," he said, promising early-warning and response measures "including the necessary concealment, mobility and dispersal measures". Beijing has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, and the democratically elected government in Taipei rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims. Neither government formally recognises the other.</p>

<h2>Our read</h2>

<p>This is analysis. The landmark shots themselves reveal little that a tourist map does not. What matters is the frame: a historical handover recast, by law in Beijing, as a legal claim, packaged with a reminder of how much China's own commercial satellites can now see. Taiwan's defence ministry is treating the capability seriously, and the ritual is becoming annual. For anyone reading the cross-strait signals, watch the calendar, not the camera.</p>

<h2>Sources</h2>

<ul>

<li><a href="https://www.cna.com.tw/news/aopl/202610260187.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNA (Central News Agency, Taiwan), 26 Oct 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-10-25/Jilin-1-satellites-unveil-high-resolution-images-of-Taiwan-region-1Rwua3oWWdy/p.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CGTN, 25 Oct 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://jl.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202610/27/WS6ae0033fe4b09a165c791ac1.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">China Daily (Jilin), 27 Oct 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3372328/taiwan-vows-vigilance-beijing-releases-detailed-satellite-imagery-island-landmarks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">South China Morning Post, 27 Oct 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/taiwan-rebuffs-chinas-commemorations-for-post-world-war-two-restoration-of-island" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reuters via The Straits Times, 27 Oct 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2026/10/28/2003866747" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reuters via Taipei Times, 28 Oct 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://english.www.gov.cn/news/202510/25/content_WS68fc321dc6d00ca5f9a0704d.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Xinhua via english.gov.cn, 24 Oct 2025</a></li>

<li><a href="https://www.taiwanplus.com/news/taiwan-news/taiwan-china-relations/261026003/taiwan-rejects-beijings-claim-to-commemorate-retrocession-day" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TaiwanPlus, 26 Oct 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://x.com/newsnews_today/status/2114591079224000816" target="_blank" rel="noopener">X post, 26 Oct 2026</a></li>

</ul>