© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A ship sails between wind generators within the Taiwan strait off the coast of Pingtan Island, Fujian province, China, April 10, 2023. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File picture
TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan’s defence ministry mentioned on Friday {that a} Chinese language balloon had crossed the Taiwan Strait median line on Thursday, a few month earlier than Taiwan’s presidential election.
Taiwan, which China claims as its personal territory, often accuses Beijing of searching for to exert army or financial stress to sway its elections towards outcomes beneficial to the Chinese language authorities.
The island will maintain presidential and parliamentary elections on Jan. 13.
China has stepped up its army stress in opposition to Taiwan over the previous 4 years, together with staging two rounds of main conflict video games across the island up to now 12 months and a half.
The defence ministry mentioned the balloon was detected 101 nautical miles (187 km) southwest of the northern Taiwanese metropolis of Keelung, and travelled eastward for about an hour earlier than disappearing.
Earlier this 12 months, the defence ministry mentioned a balloon that got here down on a distant Taiwanese-held islet near China’s coast was used for climate monitoring and had no audio-visual recording gear on board.
