Ten days before the island's elections, tensions remain high across the Taiwan Strait. The Defense Ministry in Taipei reports for the second day in a row that it has detected the presence of four Chinese hot air balloons that crossed the so-called “central line” of the Taiwan Strait, which Beijing does not recognize. Three of the four “intercepted” balloons flew yesterday over the de facto independent island, for which Chinese leader Xi Jinping wants “reunification.” “Yesterday, four hot air balloons from the People's Republic of China were spotted crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait southwest of Ching Chuan Kang, where an air base is located, and northwest of Keelung heading northeast,” the full note said.
Yesterday, Taipei reported the passage of two Chinese hot air balloons the evening before. Incidents of this kind have become a sensitive issue since the “espionage crisis” with the United States in February last year. This morning, Taipei's Defense Ministry also reported the presence of nine Chinese military aircraft and four naval units from the Asian giant's navy around the island, and said two aircraft had entered Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (Adiz). The geopolitical situation is also tense in the East.
