16 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Taiwan Army has reported this Thursday that it has found the remains of a supposedly Chinese balloon in the vicinity of Dongyin Island, off the coast of Fujian, northwest of Taipei.
The authorities have indicated that the discovery occurred in the morning on the island, which is part of the Matsu archipelago, controlled by Taiwan. Thus, they have explained that it is, in principle, a probably Chinese weather balloon that would have fallen on the strategic island of the Taiwan Strait.
The globe is approximately one meter in diameter and includes a box with Chinese letters referring to the Chinese city of Taiyuan, as reported by the Taiwanese Armed Forces.
“Preliminary investigations suggest that the remains correspond to a meteorological instrument that has been collecting data for future evaluations,” they said in a statement.
The finding is part of the increase in tension between the United States and China due to the presence of spy balloons. The Asian giant considers Taiwan one more province under its sovereignty, while Taipei has raised the alarm for what it considers the growing “harassment” of the Chinese authorities against the island.
Last year, the Taiwan government denounced the intrusion of a Chinese plane into its airspace near Dongyin in what Taipei described as an attempt to test the reaction capacity of the Taiwanese military.
