Taipei – Taiwan detected 11 Chinese balloons near the island in a 24-hour period, said its Defence Ministry on March 7.
The balloons were spotted along with five Chinese aircraft and six warships in the 24 hours to 6am, the ministry said in its daily report. It was the highest number of balloons recorded, according to an AFP tally of the data dating back to December 2023.
China insists that democratic Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring the island under its control.
Beijing has increased the deployment of fighter jets and naval vessels around Taiwan in recent years to press its claim of sovereignty, which Taipei rejects.
The surge in balloons comes after Taiwan recorded 45 Chinese aircraft near the island in a 24-hour period last week, which is the highest number in 2025.
In the same week, Taipei also condemned China for holding live-fire drills off the island’s south.
Beijing hit back, accusing Taiwan of “pure hype” over what it called “routine training”.
The top US military commander in the Indo-Pacific told a defence forum in February that the frequency of China’s exercises could be used to cover up a real attack.
In response to those comments, China’s Defence Ministry reiterated that Beijing would not renounce the use of force to achieve unification.
Taiwan is a potential flashpoint for a war between China and the United States, which is the island’s most important backer and biggest arms supplier.
While the US is legally bound to provide arms to Taiwan – which Beijing opposes – Washington has long maintained “strategic ambiguity” when it comes to whether it would deploy its military to defend the island from a Chinese attack.
Despite longstanding strong bipartisan support in the US Congress for Taiwan, there are fears that US President Donald Trump might not consider it worth defending if China attacked.
Speaking at a recent security forum, Taiwan’s National Security Council chief Joseph Wu said US support for Taiwan was “very strong”. He praised the US for providing defence equipment to Taiwan, training its soldiers and boosting its international presence.
“The Trump administration’s support for Taiwan will remain very strong,” he told the Halifax International Security Taipei Forum.
“It is very clear that the US is supporting Taiwan, and with US support, I think we will be more confident in defending ourselves.” AFP
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