None of the Chinese balloons found crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait were released from People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warships, the military said yesterday.
The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) statement came after a news report published by the Chinese-language China Times on Saturday quoted an unnamed source as saying the armed forces recently found that some of the Chinese balloons were released from PLA vessels conducting drills in seas around Taiwan.
The China Times report said this showed the PLA was intentionally releasing the balloons to disrupt Taiwan’s air and sea defense.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
The ministry has previously said most of the Chinese balloons were from coastal Chinese Fujian and Guangzhou provinces and were released for meteorological purposes.
In its statement issued yesterday, the MND said it has found no evidence of Chinese balloons being released from PLA warships.
The ministry last year said that similar balloons had been detected by the military on a regular basis in airspace around or above Taiwan, most often between December and February, because seasonal winds bring them closer to Taiwan.
However, this year the number of detected balloons has significantly increased, with eight balloons found flying toward the Taiwan side of the strait on Feb. 10, including six flying over Taiwan proper, according to the ministry.
Meanwhile, the ministry yesterday said that on Saturday morning it detected two more Chinese balloons crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait.
The two balloons that were seen flying above Taiwan were detected crossing the median line at 63 nautical miles (117km) and 69 nautical miles (128km) northwest of Keelung, it said.
They were flying at altitudes of 7,620m and 5,182m.
In addition, seven Chinese warships, one of them crossing the median line of the strait, and five PLA naval vessels were detected operating near Taiwan from 6am Saturday to 6am yesterday.
The median line in the Taiwan Strait has served for decades as a tacit border between the two sides of the strait. However, China’s military has sent aircraft, drones and balloons across it in the past three years.
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