Taiwan finds suspected China-made weather balloon debris on frontline islet
ROC Central News Agency
05/14/2023 11:45 AM
Taipei, May. 14 (CNA) Taiwan's military has found the wreckage of a suspected China-made weather balloon on one of its offshore frontline islets near China on Saturday.
In a press release, the Army's Matsu Defense Command, which is responsible for guarding the Matsu archipelago near southwestern China, said its Juguang Defense Team has found the wreckage of a suspected weather balloon on a road outside its camp during a patrol Saturday evening.
The suspected balloon has the simplified Chinese characters for "Shanghai Chang Wang Meteorological Technology Company " (上海長望氣象科技股份有限公司) and "GTS12 digital radiosonde" imprinted on it.
Taiwan uses complex or traditional Chinese characters, while China uses simplified Chinese characters.
An initial probe has concluded that the wreckage belonged to a suspected weather balloon.
Taiwan's Army will further examine the wreckage, and plans to also continue beefing up its patrol to closely monitor movements around its military bases, according to the press release.
The command, however, did not give an exact location and time concerning its finding.
Juguang Defense Team is responsible for guarding Juguang Township's two major islands, namely, Dongju Island (東莒) and Xiju Island (西莒). The township is located less than 10 kilometers from China's Fujian Province.
The last time Taiwan's military detected a similar wreckage from an alleged Chinese weather balloon was in February, and that discovery was also made by the Army's Matsu Defense Command. In that incident, its subcommand at Dongyin islet found the wreckage.
Taiwan's military has said earlier this year that Chinese balloons detected in Taiwan's airspace to date have been weather balloons and did not pose a security threat that would require them to be shot down.
Alleged Chinese balloon programs have drawn global attention after a suspected Chinese spy balloon was spotted and shot down by the United States on Feb. 4 in American airspace.
The incident also led to a diplomatic dispute, with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling off a trip to China.
However, Beijing has denied that the balloon was used for spying and claims it was a civilian airship used for meteorological research and had blown off course.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman in February also accused the U.S. of flying high-altitude balloons over China and other countries without permission more than 10 times since the beginning of 2022.
A White House spokesman asked in February to respond to this claim said there were no U.S. surveillance aircraft in Chinese airspace, but declined to specify whether such aircraft operate in Chinese-claimed areas.
(By Joseph Yeh)
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