Taiwan says China balloons are ‘serious threat to safety of flight paths’

Taiwan’s defense ministry condemned China for repeatedly sending balloons across the strait and urged Beijing to stop immediately.

Taiwan’s defense ministry condemned China for repeatedly sending balloons across the strait and urged Beijing to stop immediately.

China rejected allegations of surveillance and insisted that balloon and others were purely for civilian purposes. (AP)

China “disregarded” civil aviation safety and the balloons “posed a serious threat to the safety of many international flight paths,” Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense said in a press release on Saturday.

The ministry reported 12 Chinese balloons crossed the median line in the body of the water separating Taiwan from China between Jan. 1 and 5, with some of them floating over the main island of the self-governing region. China long refrained from crossing the line but recently has been flying warplanes across it, taxing Taiwan’s smaller armed forces.

The ministry’s statement comes as Taiwan prepares for presidential elections on Jan. 13, and China’s threat has emerged as the campaign’s dominant theme. Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a stark reminder of the Communist Party’s territorial claims over the democracy on Sunday, reiterating Taiwan would “surely be reunified” with China some day.

A Chinese balloon that floated over the US early last year derailed relationship between Beijing and Washington. The US said the aircraft was for surveillance and shot it down, while China said it was for weather purposes. Taiwan began to release details of balloon sightings in December, though defense ministry said earlier that it has long been spotting them without making the information public.