China is threatening aviation safety and waging psychological warfare on the Taiwanese public with a spate of balloons spotted near or over Taiwan ahead of Saturday’s presidential and legislative elections, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
The potential for China to use balloons for spying became a global issue in February last year when the US shot down what it said was a Chinese surveillance balloon.
China said the balloon was a civilian craft that accidentally drifted astray.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
Taiwan is on high alert for Chinese military and political activity ahead of the elections.
Taipei said China is exerting military and economic pressure in an attempt to interfere in the vote.
Since last month the ministry has reported several instances of Chinese balloons flying over the Taiwan Strait.
It said this week that some balloons had floated over Taiwan proper near major air bases.
The balloons were a “serious threat” to international aviation safety given their flight paths, it said in a statement yesterday.
“We also express our condemnation of the Chinese communists’ disregard for aviation safety and its disregard for the safety of passengers on cross-strait and international flights,” it said.
The ministry said that its analysis was that the balloons were part of China’s “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan “in an attempt to use cognitive warfare to affect the morale of our people.”
Asked whether it has shot down any of the balloons or intends to do so, the ministry said it would respond according to the altitude and possible purpose of airborne objects and the level of threat they pose.
So far, it has taken appropriate measures according to the “rules on responding to contingencies during normal times,” it said.
Calls seeking comment to the Chinese Ministry of National Defence, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office and the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration were not answered yesterday outside of work hours.
China’s defence ministry last week declined to comment on the balloons at a monthly news conference.
In a separate statement yesterday, the Ministry of Defense said that during the previous 24 hours it had detected two more Chinese balloons, one of which briefly flew over the far northern tip of the nation.
It said it thought the balloons were mostly for weather monitoring, driven by prevailing winds at this time of year, and the comments on them being part of China’s “gray zone” activities are stronger than previous statements.
A Western security source, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media, said that China was sending a very simple pre-election message to Taiwan with the balloons.
“We are watching you closely and you can’t hide,” the source said.
Additional reporting by CNA
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
‘VERY SHALLOW’: The center of Saturday’s quake in Tainan’s Dongshan District hit at a depth of 7.7km, while yesterday’s in Nansai was at a depth of 8.1km, the CWA said Two magnitude 5.7 earthquakes that struck on Saturday night and yesterday morning were aftershocks triggered by a magnitude 6.4 quake on Tuesday last week, a seismologist said, adding that the epicenters of the aftershocks are moving westward. Saturday and yesterday’s earthquakes occurred as people were preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday this week. As of 10am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) recorded 110 aftershocks from last week’s main earthquake, including six magnitude 5 to 6 quakes and 32 magnitude 4 to 5 tremors. Seventy-one of the earthquakes were smaller than magnitude 4. Thirty-one of the aftershocks were felt nationwide, while 79
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
RSS