Series of Chinese balloons keeps Taiwan on tenterhooks
Taipei has been reporting suspicious incidents in the sky for over a month. Chinese balloons keep flying over the country. A research institute sees a connection with the upcoming elections in Taiwan.
According to Taiwan's military, it has discovered four suspicious balloons from China over its territory. Three of them flew over the island republic on Tuesday southwest of the Ching Chuan Kang airbase in a northeasterly direction, according to the Ministry of Defense. A fourth flew along the island in the northwest. The balloons came within 3650 meters of the ground. The ministry stated that it would "closely monitor" the balloons and take "appropriate measures" depending on their nature, altitude and possible dangers.
The incident was reminiscent of the overflight of a Chinese balloon in the USA last year. Washington accused Beijing of using it for espionage. China, on the other hand, said that the balloon had drifted and was being used for weather measurements. The USA shot the balloon out of the sky. It is being investigated whether the balloons over Taiwan had other purposes besides measurements.
A Chinese balloon had already flown over Taiwanese territory on Monday. Since the beginning of December, the Taiwanese military has reported balloons in six cases. The balloons usually disappear a short time later.
Elections are likely to set the tone
The incidents come just a few weeks before the presidential and parliamentary elections in Taiwan on January 13. The outcome of the election is likely to be decisive for the future relationship between Taipei and Beijing - and is eagerly awaited in Beijing and Washington. Conflict expert Ou Sifu from the Taiwanese Institute for National Defense and Security Research sees the balloons as a means of "psychological warfare". China wants to use this "instrument of military intimidation" to encourage more people to vote for representatives of a pro-Chinese position, said Ou.
The relationship between China and Taiwan had recently become considerably more tense again. Since the political split between mainland China and Taiwan in 1949, Beijing has regarded the democratic self-governing island as a renegade territory that it wants to reunite with the mainland. In recent years, the presence of Chinese warships and army aircraft around Taiwan has increased significantly. Chinese fighter jets fly into Taiwan's air defense zone almost daily, to which the island must respond.
The conflict is also the subject of the presidential and parliamentary elections in Taiwan. The incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen will not run for president again after two terms in office. Her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) with top candidate Lai Ching-te is in favor of independence from China. In contrast, the candidates of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) are in favor of friendlier relations with Beijing.
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The Taiwanese authorities are scrutinizing the motives behind the repeated Chinese balloon incidents, as they occurred closely before the upcoming elections. These elections in Taipei have significant implications for the relationship between Beijing and Taipei, and China's use of balloons as a potential form of espionage or psychological warfare could influence voter sentiment.
Source: www.ntv.de
