《TAIPEI TIMES》Four more Chinese balloons cross over Taiwan Strait - 焦點 - 自由時報電子報
根據《TAIPEI TIMES》報導，國防部昨日（1月2日）表示，有四顆中國氣球漂越台灣海峽，其中三顆飛越台灣本島空域。這是自上月以來第九次偵測到中國氣球。雖然國防部稱多數為天氣氣球，但國家安全研究機構學者歐錫富指出，這些氣球是「軍事脅迫和心理戰」的工具，尤其在選舉前夕更顯明顯。此外，國防部也檢測到解放軍飛機與海艦艇近期多次接近台灣周邊，專家認為此為旨在恫嚇台灣的「灰色地帶」戰術。
2024/01/04 03:00
By Kayleigh Madjar / Staff writer, with CNA and AFP
Four Chinese balloons on Tuesday drifted across the Taiwan Strait, with three of them crossing over Taiwan proper, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, following two more sightings the day before.
Tuesday’s balloons all drifted northeast and disappeared at 10:48am, 5:18pm, 7:01pm and 7:02pm, the ministry said.
They were floating at altitudes of 3,658m, 5,486m, 6,706m and 7,315m respectively, it said, adding that it was the ninth time Chinese balloons had been detected since last month.
On Monday, two balloons were sighted, one of which crossed over Taiwan proper.
Ministry spokesman Sun Li-fang （孫立方） did not say whether the military believed the latest balloons were for weather or espionage purposes, but the ministry has previously said that most Chinese balloons flying in the area were weather balloons.
The military closely monitors the balloons’ movements and informs civil aviation authorities, Sun said.
“The nation’s armed forces respond appropriately to unidentified balloons found entering Taiwan’s airspace based on the level of threat they pose to national security,” he said, without elaborating.
The ministry last year said that similar devices had been regularly detected around Taiwan, most often between the months of December and February, as seasonal winds bring the balloons closer to Taiwan.
The military does not believe the balloons are directly related to Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections, to be held on Saturday next week, Sun told a ministry news briefing on Tuesday last week.
Ou Si-fu （歐錫富）, a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the balloons are “for military coercion and psychological warfare.”
“The presidential election is coming and balloons are a kind of military intimidating tool,” he said, adding that China wants more “pro-Beijing votes.”
In the 24 hours ending at 6am yesterday, the ministry also detected nine Chinese People’s Liberation Army aircraft and four navy vessels operating near Taiwan.
Two of the aircraft — a Xian JH-7 bomber and a Harbin BZK-005 reconnaissance drone — crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait into the nation’s north and southwest air defense identification zone, the ministry said.
Beijing has in the past few years ramped up military and political pressure on the government of President Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文）, and also refused to engage with her during her tenure.
It has sent an unprecedented number of warplanes and naval vessels around Taiwan, dubbed by military experts as “gray zone” tactics designed to intimidate Taiwanese.
來源：自由時報
