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.
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