Taiwan also spotted nine Chinese military airplanes and six navy ships operating around its main island. The Taiwanese government views these actions as harassment.
Taiwan has detected six Chinese balloons off its main island, the National Defense Ministry announced on Friday.
The balloons were sighted in the 24 hours from Thursday until 6 a.m. Friday (2200 UTC Thursday), the ministry announced in a statement as it gave one of its highest daily figures of the balloons.
The devices were detected flying at an altitude of 16,000 feet to 20,000 feet (4876 meters to 6096 meters), graphics published by the ministry on social media platform X showed.
A total of nine Chinese military aircraft, six navy ships and two official vessels were also spotted near Taiwan over the same time frame, the ministry added.
Beijing keeps up pressure on Taipei
China claims Taiwan as part of its own territory.
In recent years, Beijing has stepped up its military activities around democratically-ruled Taiwan, frequently deploying fighter jets, drones and warships.
China has also persuaded several of Taipei’s diplomatic allies to drop their support for Taiwan on promises of aid and investment.
Taiwan regularly detects Chinese balloons over its waters and has described the aerial devices as a form of “grey-zone” harassment, a maneuver that falls short of an act of war.
Chinese balloons became a topic of global discussion in 2023 when the United States shot down what it called a “spy balloon.”
Beijing said it was a civilian airship blown off-course.
The number of balloons spotted on Friday is one of the highest recorded, according to an independent tally of military data done by news agency AFP.
In 2024, Taipei reported a record eight Chinese balloons shortly after the presidential elections won by the Democratic Progressive Party’s Lai Ching-te.
China calls Lai a “separatist” and has conducted several major military drills since he assumed the presidency in May.
