Taiwan military claims to have found remains of weather balloon: 'It's probably Chinese'

Taiwan's military reported on Thursday that it had found the remains of what it said was a downed weather balloon possibly from China on a remote and strategically important island off China's coast, amid a dispute between China and the United States over balloons and espionage, Radio reported. Free Europe.

Taiwan, which China claims as its territory, has complained in recent years of increased harassment by Beijing's armed forces, including fighter jets and drones flying near the island.

Taiwan's military said late Thursday morning its forces on Dongjin Island, part of the Taiwan-controlled Matsu archipelago off the coast of China's Fuzhou, spotted an unknown object falling from the sky and later found the remains of a balloon.

The balloon is about a meter in diameter with an instrument box marked with simplified Chinese characters - used in China but not Taiwan - and the words "Taijuan Radio No. 1 Factory Co., Ltd.", "GTS13 Digital Atmospheric Sounding Instrument" and a "meteorological instrument," the military said.

Taijuan is a large city in the north of China. Reuters was not immediately able to contact the factory to ask about the balloon.

"Preliminary investigation determined that it was the remains of a meteorological detection instrument, which was collected by the relevant department for further evaluation," Taiwan's military said.

Speaking to reporters in parliament on Friday, Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said his ministry had sent a team to investigate the crashed balloon.

"The national army will not jump to conclusions based on appearances. Answers will be given only after an investigation," he said.

Taiwan's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that it had not spotted any surveillance balloons from China in its vicinity. The dispute between Beijing and Washington over spy balloons is raising concerns over rising military tensions.