Taiwan detects Chinese balloon, fighter jets crossing median line

Taiwan has said that a dozen Chinese fighter jets and a balloon crossed the Taiwan Strait’s sensitive median line, as tensions simmer about a month before the island’s presidential election.

Democratically governed Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has complained for the past four years of regular Chinese military patrols and drills near the island, Al Jazeera reports.

Offering details of Chinese missions on Friday, Taiwan’s defence ministry said that on December 7 night, 12 fighter jets crossed the median line that once served as an unofficial barrier between the two sides.

 In total, it said 26 Chinese military aircraft were detected, along with 10 Chinese navy ships, in the 24 hours before 6am local time on Friday (22:00 GMT on Thursday), but only about half had crossed the median line.

 Taiwan’s military monitored the situation with combat aircraft, navy vessels and land-based missile systems, the ministry said.

 In an unusual addition to its statement, the ministry said at about midday on Thursday it had also detected a Chinese balloon 101 nautical miles (187km) southwest of the northern Taiwanese city of Keelung. It travelled eastwards for about an hour, crossing the strait before disappearing, possibly into the Pacific Ocean.

 Taiwan’s defence minister Chiu Kuo-cheng told reporters that their “initial understanding” was it was probably a weather balloon, but felt the ministry 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 added.