What happened in Taiwan when Chinese balloons were detected flying over the country?

TAINAN, Taiwan — An increase in sightings of Chinese balloons flying over Taiwan has caught the attention of the island's military and has been seen by some experts as a calculatedly ambiguous warning to voters ahead of their presidential election.

Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense has reported occasional sightings of balloons floating from China since last month and a more recent increase, according to the ministry's daily tally of Chinese military activities near the island. Previously, reports about balloons were very sporadic.

Most of the balloons have remained off the coast of Taiwan. However, on January 1, one crossed the island, according to the Ministry's description. Of the four sighted on January 2, three flew over Taiwan and two reached the eastern side of the island. Another flew over the island on January 3.

Taiwanese reports also pointed to the proximity of some of the balloons to military bases. Of the four reported on January 2, three were detected for the first time between 195 and 295 kilometers from the Ching Chuan Kang air base in Taichung. Taiwan's Defense Ministry declined to specify how close they flew to the base.

The balloons do not appear to pose an immediate military threat to Taiwan, a self-governing democracy of 23 million that Beijing claims is its territory. Last month, Taiwan's Defense Ministry indicated that they appeared to be intended to collect atmospheric data.

Taiwan has experienced none of the alarm that gripped the United States last year when a huge, high-altitude Chinese surveillance balloon crossed US skies. China denied that the balloon was intended for spying, but Washington did not believe it and the dispute soured relations for many months. Taiwanese are accustomed to Chinese military flights near the island, and news of the balloons has been met with calm, if not indifference.

The timing of the balloon flights is telling, said Ko Yong-Sen, a researcher at the National Defense and Security Research Institute, a think tank in Taipei funded by Taiwan's Defense Ministry.

“It's more of a chilling effect at what turns out to be a pretty sensitive time, since we in Taiwan are holding our elections on January 13,” Ko said. China, he said, “may want to tone it down. “People say they have recklessly used major weapons, like planes and ships, to harass, so they have turned to balloons that can be used for some types of lower-intensity intimidation and harassment.”

As Taiwanese voters prepared to elect a president and legislature, Beijing made no secret of its desire to see the ruling Democratic Progressive Party lose power. The party opposes Beijing's claims to Taiwan.

Ko said he was more concerned about what China could do with high-altitude balloons, like the one spotted over the United States last year, which could increase data collection using satellites and radar.

“Taiwan intelligence gathering would be even more serious,” he said. “This is something that worries us and would be more problematic.”

By: CHRIS BUCKLEY and AMY CHANG CHIEN