Taiwan’s defence ministry spotted three Chinese balloons hovering over the island on Tuesday.
China started using balloons for spying in February 2023, when the United States shot down what it said was a Chinese surveillance balloon. China claimed the balloon was a civilian craft that accidentally went astray.
The defence ministry has reported several cases since last month of Chinese balloons flying across the Taiwan Strait, then crossing the airspace in the north of the island and disappearing.
On Wednesday, the ministry reported detecting four balloons flying over the strait, three of which passed through the centre of the island.
According to the report, all three flew 105 nautical miles (194 kilometres), 160 nautical miles (296 kilometres) and 159 nautical miles (294 kilometres) respectively southwest of Ching Chuan Kang, which houses an important Taiwanese air force base.
The balloons, which the ministry believed might have been intended for weather monitoring, subsequently vanished. Asked whether the last balloons were intended for weather or other purposes, the ministry declined to elaborate.
Taiwan is on high alert for Chinese action ahead of the January 13 presidential and parliamentary elections, since China claims the island as its territory.
