Taiwan recovers remnants of likely Chinese balloon that crashed on remote island
Taiwan said it found the wreckage of a suspected Chinese weather balloon after observing an unknown object falling from the sky.
Taiwan’s army said they spotted an unidentified object drifting in the sky above Dongyin island, a Taiwanese-controlled part off China’s coast at around 11am local time on Thursday.
The island nation dispatched a team to investigate the crashed balloon, defence minister Chiu Kuo-cheng told reporters on Friday.
But he said the military “will not jump to conclusions just by looking at appearances”.
“Answers will only be made after investigation,” he said.
The remnants of the balloon were found on a shooting range and an initial investigation suggested the balloon was likely among those launched daily to monitor weather.
It is the first such incident in which remnants of a balloon were discovered in Taiwan amid weeks of high-stakes drama between China and the US after Washington shot down three suspected “spy balloons” of Beijing.
On Thursday, US president Joe Biden said America was developing “sharper rules” to track, monitor and potentially shoot down unknown aerial objects. Mr Biden said he would make “make no apologies for taking down the balloon”.
The sphere found by the Taiwanese military is about a metre in diameter and had an instrument box bearing the name of a Chinese company in simplified Chinese characters used on the mainland.
The wordings on the object read: “Taiyuan Radio No 1 Factory Co Ltd” and “GTS13 digital atmospheric sounding instrument”.
“The preliminary investigation determined that the remains were of a meteorological detecting instrument, which have been collected by the relevant departments for further evaluation,” Taiwan’s army said in a short statement.
The defence ministry said the balloon had equipment registered to a state-owned electronics company in the northern city of Taiyuan.
But the officers of the company Taiyuan Wireless (Radio) First Factory said it had provided electronics but had not built the balloon.
A spokesperson for Taiyuan said it is among a large number of companies that provide equipment to the China Meteorological Administration.
The balloon was likely launched to monitor weather and was probably set off from the coastal city of Xiamen with no fixed course, he said.
The spokesperson said the deflation was a natural outcome after it reached a maximum altitude of around 30,000 metres (100,000ft).
It was the first time remnants of a balloon were found in Taiwan, senior defence official Chen Yu-lin said.
Taiwanese military announced on 14 February that it would shoot down any suspected unidentified object coming close to its shores from mainland China.
It has previously spotted weather balloons but not detected any spy balloons, it said.
