Taiwan Detects 8 Chinese Balloons Around Island

On Saturday, Taipei’s defence ministry stated that eight Chinese balloons have been detected around Taiwan, with two directly flying over the island.

According to the ministry, the balloons were sighted on Friday, the day before the start of the Lunar New Year holiday, at an altitude ranging from 15,000 feet (4,572 metres) to 38,000 feet.

It was the largest number discovered since the ministry began regularly reporting data on balloon sightings in December.

China claims democratic Taiwan as its territory and has never renounced using force to seize control of the self-governing island.

Beijing has increased military pressure in recent years, deploying warplanes and navy vessels around the island almost daily.

In February of last year, Taiwan’s military notified aviation authorities after detecting a balloon floating in the island’s airspace but did not specify where the balloon originated or where it was located.

The most recent balloon sightings followed Taiwan’s presidential election last month, which was won by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s Lai Ching-te, whom Beijing sees as a separatist.

China warned before the poll that a victory for Lai would bring war and decline to Taiwan.

However, it did not send an excessive number of warplanes and naval vessels immediately following the election.

As per Taipei, the largest incursion since the January 13 vote has included 33 Chinese warplanes observed around Taiwan.

The most warplanes China sent in 24 hours occurred in September when Taiwan detected 103 Chinese aircraft around the island.

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