Taiwan says it has not seen surveillance balloons from China
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At least four balloons and high-altitude flying objects have been shot down over North America since Feb 4.
PHOTO: AFP
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TAIPEI – Taiwan has not spotted any surveillance balloons from China in its vicinity, the island’s Defence Ministry said on Tuesday, as a dispute between China and the United States over spy balloons triggers worries about rising military tensions.
The US military on Feb 4 shot down what it called a Chinese spy balloon
China said the balloon was a civilian research craft that had mistakenly blown off course, and on Monday it accused the US of sending its spy balloons over China.
A Taiwan military intelligence officer said the armed forces had not seen any surveillance balloons from China near the island that were similar to the one shot down over the US.
“The majority of the balloons near our waters were used for meteorological purposes,” Major General Huang Wen-chi told a regular briefing in Taipei, adding that the weather balloons posed no serious security threat.
He said the military would destroy any balloon approaching Taiwan’s territory that posed “high security threats” but no such action had been necessary.
The balloons detected near Taiwan have no steering capability and thus they were unlikely to be used for surveillance purposes, he added.
A Financial Times report this week quoted unidentified Taiwan sources as saying that the island has observed dozens of Chinese military balloon flights in its airspace in recent years, far more than previously known.
The ministry declined to comment on the report.
Beijing regards Taiwan as a renegade province to be reunified, by force if necessary. China has ramped up its military activities near the island in recent years.
Taiwan vows to defend itself if attacked. REUTERS
