Dozens of Chinese military balloons have been spotted flying through Taiwan’s airspace in the past few years, the Financial Times reported yesterday.
“They come very frequently, the last one just a few weeks ago,” a senior Taiwanese official was quoted as saying.
Similar incursions happen once every month on average, another official said.
Photo courtesy of the Central Weather Bureau
The Ministry of National Defense only confirmed one such incident — four batches of Chinese balloons flew over northern Taiwan in February last year, it said.
Balloons were also spotted flying over Japanese, Philippine and other Asia-Pacific countries’ airspaces, but those governments have given little detail on the incursions, it said.
Chinese balloon programs have drawn global attention after one balloon was spotted and shot down by the US on Feb. 4, it said.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been “strengthening capacities it would need to invade Taiwan,” such as building up its air, naval and missile forces, conducting military exercises simulating an invasion of Taiwan, and carrying out bigger and more complex military action around Taiwan, it said.
The rising tensions between the US and China caused further concerns for possible Chinese military action, it said.
The balloons spotted in Taiwan’s airspace were often flying at about 6,000m, far lower than the one that traversed the US at about 18,000m, it quoted Taiwanese officials as saying.
They were bigger and heavier than normal meteorological balloons, which are allowed to fly through other countries’ airspaces without permission under international law, the officials said.
The balloons were developed by the Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission of the People’s Republic of China, it cited military and intelligence officials as saying.
The balloons have been collecting atmospheric data for radar and missile systems, Taiwanese officials said.
Air pressure and density can affect the accuracy of a missile after re-entry into the atmosphere, said Kitsch Liao (廖彥棻), who is assistant director of the Global China Hub at the Washington-based think tank Atlantic Council.
The atmospheric specifics can also affect over-the-horizon radars, which are long-range systems that China needs to operate in waters and airspace around eastern Taiwan, he said.
As algorithms involved in the operations require a large amount of data, and the conditions vary seasonally and annually, the “spy balloons” have to fly over repeatedly, he added.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
The Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office today requested that a court detain three individuals, including Keelung Department of Civil Affairs Director Chang Yuan-hsiang (張淵翔), in connection with an investigation into forged signatures used in recall campaigns. Chang is suspected of accessing a household registration system to assist with recall campaigns targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors Cheng Wen-ting (鄭文婷) and Jiho Chang (張之豪), prosecutors said. Prosecutors yesterday directed investigators to search six locations, including the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Keelung office and the residences of several recall campaign leaders. The recall campaign leaders, including Chi Wen-chuan (紀文荃), Yu Cheng-i (游正義) and Hsu Shao-yeh
RSS