The military yesterday confirmed media reports that multiple weather balloons used by the Chinese military passed over the country shortly after the Lunar New Year holiday, but said the balloons posed no security threat and were being used for meteorological observations.
“The air force has full understanding of the [balloons’] movements. It is believed they were being be used for meteorological observations,” Ministry of National Defense (MND) spokesman Major General Shih Shun-wen (史順文) said.
Shih’s comments came after Chinese-language United Daily News on Saturday reported that an unspecified number of weather balloons in four groups were released from China’s Fujian Province by a long-range rocket unit of an artillery brigade from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) 72nd Group Army.
Photo: Aaron Tu, Taipei Times
The balloons were detected by air force radar at altitudes from 2,743m to 3,048m above Keelung, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, shortly after the Lunar New Year holiday period, the report said.
The weather balloons raised concerns amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine and following President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) request for the armed forces to remain on high alert, it said.
Even if the balloons were being used for military purposes, they were likely analyzing atmospheric density for the PLA’s Eastern Theater Command and pose no immediate security threat, Institute for National Defense and Security Research analyst Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said yesterday.
Meanwhile, the MND yesterday posted a video on Facebook to show that the armed forces have increased patrols and strengthened combat preparedness to deter China from attacking Taiwan.
“The military has continued to step up surveillance as it remains alert and closely observes military activities across the Taiwan Strait. We are determined and capable of defending the country,” the ministry said in the video.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to