Four Chinese balloons on Tuesday drifted across the Taiwan Strait, with three of them crossing over Taiwan proper, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, following two more sightings the day before.
Tuesday’s balloons all drifted northeast and disappeared at 10:48am, 5:18pm, 7:01pm and 7:02pm, the ministry said.
They were floating at altitudes of 3,658m, 5,486m, 6,706m and 7,315m respectively, it said, adding that it was the ninth time Chinese balloons had been detected since last month.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
On Monday, two balloons were sighted, one of which crossed over Taiwan proper.
Ministry spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) did not say whether the military believed the latest balloons were for weather or espionage purposes, but the ministry has previously said that most Chinese balloons flying in the area were weather balloons.
The military closely monitors the balloons’ movements and informs civil aviation authorities, Sun said.
“The nation’s armed forces respond appropriately to unidentified balloons found entering Taiwan’s airspace based on the level of threat they pose to national security,” he said, without elaborating.
The ministry last year said that similar devices had been regularly detected around Taiwan, most often between the months of December and February, as seasonal winds bring the balloons closer to Taiwan.
The military does not believe the balloons are directly related to Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections, to be held on Saturday next week, Sun told a ministry news briefing on Tuesday last week.
Ou Si-fu (歐錫富), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the balloons are “for military coercion and psychological warfare.”
“The presidential election is coming and balloons are a kind of military intimidating tool,” he said, adding that China wants more “pro-Beijing votes.”
In the 24 hours ending at 6am yesterday, the ministry also detected nine Chinese People’s Liberation Army aircraft and four navy vessels operating near Taiwan.
Two of the aircraft — a Xian JH-7 bomber and a Harbin BZK-005 reconnaissance drone — crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait into the nation’s north and southwest air defense identification zone, the ministry said.
Beijing has in the past few years ramped up military and political pressure on the government of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), and also refused to engage with her during her tenure.
It has sent an unprecedented number of warplanes and naval vessels around Taiwan, dubbed by military experts as “gray zone” tactics designed to intimidate Taiwanese.
ONE LAST TALK: While Xi said that Taiwan was a ‘red line,’ Biden, in what is likely his last meeting with Xi as president, called for an end to China’s military activity around Taiwan China’s military intimidation and economic coercion against Taiwan are the main causes of tensions that are destabilizing peace in the Taiwan Strait, Taipei said yesterday while thanking US President Joe Biden for expressing Washington’s firm stance of maintaining peace and stability in the region. Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met on Saturday for their third meeting and their first talks in seven months on the sidelines of the APEC forum in Lima, Peru. It was likely Biden’s last meeting as president with Xi. During their conversation, Biden reiterated the US’ opposition to any unilateral change to the “status quo” from either
Taiwan would participate in the 2026 APEC summit to be hosted by China after Beijing promised it would ensure the personal safety of attendees, Taiwanese national security sources said yesterday. The APEC Leaders’ Machu Picchu Declaration announced yesterday said that China would host the APEC summit in 2026. Beijing proposed hosting the summit shortly before this year’s gathering began on Friday, a national security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Many APEC members expressed concerns about China hosting the event and said that prior communication over the decision was insufficient, the official said. Taiwan brought up concerns about legal “guidelines” China announced in
SUPPORT: Arms sales to NATO Plus countries such as Japan, South Korea and Israel only have to be approved by the US Congress if they exceed US$25m The US should amend a law to add Taiwan to the list of “NATO Plus” allies and streamline future arms sales, a US commission said on Tuesday in its annual report to the US Congress. The recommendation was made in the annual report by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), which contained chapters on US-China economic and trade ties, security relations, and Taiwan and Hong Kong. In the chapter on Taiwan, the commission urged the US Congress to “amend the Arms Export Control Act of 1976 to include Taiwan on the list of ‘NATO Plus’ recipients,” referring to
MEET AND GREET: The White House, which called the interaction ‘just a handshake,’ did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Biden planned to visit Taiwan’s envoy to the APEC summit, Lin Hsin-i (林信義), on Friday invited US President Joe Biden to visit Taiwan. During the APEC Leaders’ Informal Dialogue, Lin, who represented President William Lai (賴清德) at the summit, spoke with Biden and expressed gratitude to the outgoing US president for his contribution to improving bilateral ties between Taipei and Washington over the past four years, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Lin and Biden exchanged views during the conversation, with Lin extending an invitation to Biden to visit Taiwan, it said. Biden is to step down in January next year, when US president-elect Donald Trump is
RSS