China balloon spotted near Taiwan amid rising tensions before presidential polls
India TodayTaiwan's defence ministry on Monday reported that a Chinese balloon had been detected over the sea to Taiwan's north, the first time since April it has reported such an incident in what Taipei views as part of a pattern of harassment by Beijing. Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, complained that in the weeks leading up to its presidential election in January, Chinese balloon activity took place at an "unprecedented scale". The ministry, in its regular morning update on Chinese military activities over the previous 24 hours, said the single balloon was detected at 6:21 p.m. on Sunday 60 nautical miles to the north of Taiwan's Keelung port. The potential for China to use balloons for spying became a global issue last year when the United States shot down what it said was a Chinese surveillance balloon.