For the second day in a row, the Ministry of Defense in Taipei said it spotted a record number of Chinese balloons. Six of the flying objects flew directly over the island. Their purpose is unclear.
Taiwan said it spotted eight Chinese balloons for the second day in a row. As the Ministry of Defense in Taipei announced, the flying objects were spotted between morning and afternoon local time on Saturday. They would have reached a flight altitude of around 3,600 to 10,500 meters. Six balloons are said to have flown directly over the island.
Eight Chinese balloons had already crossed the unofficial border between China and Taiwan on Friday. A few weeks earlier, six balloons had been spotted. Taiwan has been monitoring flight movements with systematic measurements since December. Never before have the authorities spotted more balloons than in the last few days.
The purpose of the balloons is still controversial
The exact purpose of the balloons is still controversial. Taiwan sees the flights as part of China’s psychological warfare. The Ministry of Defense in Taipei says they will monitor the situation and respond appropriately.
A year ago, a Chinese balloon flew over the USA before it was shot down by the American military. At the time, the US government accused China of using the balloon for espionage purposes. Beijing, on the other hand, spoke of a weather balloon for meteorological measurements. In June 2023, the US Department of Defense announced that the balloon had presumably not collected any data.
Ongoing conflict with China
The relationship between China and Taiwan had recently deteriorated significantly again. Most recently, President Xi Jinping announced in his New Year’s address that Taiwan and China would “certainly” be reunified.
Since the political split between mainland China and Taiwan in 1949, Beijing has viewed the democratic, self-governing island as its own part of the country that it wants to reunite with the mainland. In recent years, the presence of Chinese warships and army aircraft around Taiwan has increased significantly.