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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Helen Davidson in Taipei and agencies

Chinese weather balloon spotted near Taiwan a month ahead of presidential election

Taiwan MND United States China
A suspected Chinese spy balloon in the sky over Billings, Montana
China sparked a diplomatic incident in January when it flew what it claimed to be a weather balloon over the US Photograph: Chase Doak/AFP/Getty Images

Taiwan’s defence ministry has said that a Chinese balloon crossed the Taiwan Strait median line on Thursday, about a month before Taiwan’s presidential election.

The ministry of national defence (MND) earlier described it as a “surveillance balloon” but the defence minister, Chiu Kuo-cheng later told reporters at parliament: “our initial understanding is that it was a sounding balloon”.

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