The military on Saturday found the wreckage of a suspected Chinese weather balloon on one of the islets in Lienchiang County.
The army’s Matsu Defense Command, which is responsible for guarding the outlying county, said its Juguang Defense Team found the wreckage on a road outside one of its camps during a patrol.
The balloon bears the simplified Chinese characters for “Shanghai Chang Wang Meteorological Technology Co” (上海長望氣象科技股份有限公司) and “GTS12 digital radiosonde” imprinted on it, the command said in a statement.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
Taiwan uses traditional Chinese characters, while China uses simplified ones.
An initial probe has concluded that the wreckage likely belonged to a weather balloon, the command said, adding that the army would examine the object further.
The army plans to continue to bolster its patrols to closely monitor movements around military bases, the statement said.
The Juguang Defense Team is responsible for guarding Juguang Township’s (莒光) two major islands — Dongju (東莒) and Xiju (西莒). The township lies less than 10km from China’s Fujian Province.
The military found similar wreckage in February. That finding was made by the Matsu Defense Command’s unit on Dongyin Island (東引).
The military earlier this year said that Chinese balloons detected in Taiwan’s airspace were weather balloons and did not pose a security threat that would require them to be shot down.
Alleged Chinese spy balloon programs have drawn global attention after such a balloon was spotted above the US and shot down on Feb. 4.
The incident also led to a diplomatic dispute, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling off a planned trip to China.
Beijing has denied that the balloon was used for spying, and said it was a civilian airship used for meteorological research that had blown off course.
A Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman in February also accused the US of flying high-altitude balloons over China and other countries without permission more than 10 times since the beginning of last year.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy