TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan’s defence ministry on Monday reported that a Chinese balloon had been detected over the sea to Taiwan’s north, the first time since April it has reported such an incident in what Taipei views as part of a pattern of harassment by Beijing.
Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, complained that in the weeks leading up to its presidential election in January Chinese balloon activity took place at an “unprecedented scale”.
It described the incidents as part of a Chinese pressure campaign – so-called grey-zone warfare designed to exhaust a foe using irregular tactics without open combat.
Taiwan strongly objects to China’s sovereignty claims and says only the island’s people can decide their future.
The ministry, in its regular morning update on Chinese military activities over the previous 24 hours, said the single balloon was detected at 6:21 p.m. (1021 GMT) on Sunday 60 nautical miles (111 km) to the north of Taiwan’s Keelung port.
It then vanished some two hours later, having flown at an altitude of 33,000 ft (10,000 metres), but without crossing Taiwan itself, the ministry said.
China’s defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
China has previously dismissed Taiwan’s complaints about the balloons, saying they were for meteorological purposes and should not be hyped up for political reasons.
The potential for China to use balloons for spying became a global issue last year when the United States shot down what it said was a Chinese surveillance balloon. China said the balloon was a civilian craft that accidentally drifted astray.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard. Editing by Kate Mayberry)