Taiwan's Minister of National Defense says collaborative efforts between related government agencies have been initiated to find effective ways to counter moves by China, such as the incident last Sunday when China is suspected of having sent balloons across the Strait, playing havoc with the military's air defense radar.
"Efforts in that direction have already begun. But we must first get a formal response from China, as the basis for working out counter-measures against possible incidents in the future," defense minister Tang Fei (
"The military disclosed the discovery of the over 20 balloons in Taiwan's air space on Jan. 16 mainly in consideration of their potential threat to the safety of civil passenger planes flying in affected flight zones," Tang said.
Tang made the remarks during an interview with a local radio station, as part of his response to questions over the military's discovery of mysterious objects crossing the so-called "middle line" of the Taiwan Strait into Taiwan's air space.
The balloons aroused strong concern from the military which suspects the balloons may have been used for military purposes, as suggested by metal sensors found on the balloons.
But the announcement of the discovery also sparked further speculation from political figures, especially those from opposition parties, that it might be a scheme cooked up by the KMT to scare the public and strengthen support for the incumbent party at the central government level.
Tang refuted the allegations, maintaining that the announcement was made purely out of concern for aviation safety.
Tang said the military is eager to know why China sent so many balloons into Taiwan's air space at one time.
"If the purpose was to test its own radar system or find out data about Taiwan's air defense radar, two to three balloons would be enough," Tang said.
"These balloons were discernible on radar because they were equipped with metal sensors. And the sensors could not be small ones otherwise they would not have been spotted by the radar," he said.
Tang admitted there is also the possibility that balloons of this kind could be used to adjust the trajectory of ground-based artillery or ballistic missiles.
"But if that were the case with the balloons discovered on Jan. 16, China need not have sent so many within a period of six hours," he said.
Deputy Chief of the General Staff General Wang Han-ning (
Wang also revealed that last month the military's radars detected objects believed to be balloons flying across the strait heading toward Taiwan.
In the 1960s, both sides of the Taiwan Strait launched equally intense psychological warfare by sending large numbers of balloons carrying propaganda pamphlets across to one other. Taiwan had abandoned the practice by the early 1990s.
Recalling the experience of making visual contact with such a balloon while flying an F-100 jet fighter in the Taiwan Strait over two decades ago, Wang said it was very difficult for a fighter plane to take a good look at or even shoot down the balloons because of the speed at which the jet was flying.
RSS