(Taipei) Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said Monday that two Chinese balloons crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait that separates the island from mainland China the day before, the second such incident reported this month.
Chinese balloons have become a politically sensitive subject since last February, when the United States shot down what it called a spy balloon after it flew over its territory. Beijing, for its part, claimed that it was a civilian airship that had deviated from its trajectory.
In recent years, China has intensified its military and political pressure on Taiwan, which it claims as part of its territory, but the appearance of balloons is relatively rare.
The two sightings announced Monday were made at 9:03 a.m. (8:03 p.m. Eastern Time) and 2:43 p.m. Sunday, about 110 nautical miles (204 kilometers) northwest of Keelung, a port city located a twenty km north of Taipei, after crossing the strait, said the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense.
“The balloons headed east and disappeared at 9:36 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. respectively,” he added in a statement.
A spokesperson for the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense said that the first elements were weather balloons.
Taipei had already announced that a balloon had crossed the center line of the Taiwan Strait on December 8.
The Minister of Defense, Chiu Kuo-cheng, then declared that it could be a weather balloon or a weather balloon that had drifted towards the autonomous island under the effect of the winds and that it could be used for research and weather data.
Taiwan is on alert ahead of presidential elections next January, with Taipei and Washington warning Beijing against any interference in the vote.
Beijing, which has not given up on conquering the island by force, has exerted strong military and economic pressure on Taiwan since the coming to power in 2016 of Tsai Ing-wen, from a party traditionally favorable to independence.