Taiwan on Friday (Dec 8) said that China's suspected weather balloon and 12 fighter jets crossed the sensitive median line of the Taiwan Strait, escalating tensions one month before the scheduled presidential election to be held on the island.
Taiwan, which is democratically governed and is claimed as its own territory by China, has been complaining about the Chinese military carrying out regular patrols and drills near the island for the last four years.
On January 13, Taiwan will be conducting presidential and parliamentary elections and campaigning has gone into high gear, with how the relations with China will be handled by the next government being a major point of contention.
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The defence ministry of Taiwan, while providing details of Chinese missions on Thursday (Dec 7), said that 12 fighter jets of China crossed the median line, which once was seen as an unofficial barrier between the two sides. However, now Chinese planes regularly fly over that zone.
Making an unusual addition to the statement, the ministry added that around midday on Thursday a Chinese balloon was also detected 101 nautical miles (187 km) southwest of the northern Taiwanese city of Keelung, which moved eastward for nearly an hour and crossed the strait before disappearing.
Speaking to the reporters at the parliament, Taiwan Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said that their "initial understanding" was most likely a weather balloon and the ministry felt that it had an obligation to report this to be public.
"Otherwise, if after other units or other countries have reported it, everyone will wonder why (we) did not report it. The defence ministry requires all our subordinate units to have a grasp of the enemy situation," he said.
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China's use of spy balloons turned into a global issue in February when one of these surveillance balloons was shot down by the United States which China had claimed to be a civilian craft which had drifted astray accidentally.
Ahead of the election, Taiwan has remained on high alert for all kinds of military and political Chinese activities which Taipei sees as efforts by Beijing to interfere in the ballot to get electors to vote for candidates who will be preferred by China.
The elections are being led by Vice President Lai Ching-te and running mate Hsiao Bi-khim from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, who are viewed by China as separatists.
(With inputs from agencies)