Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense reports the presence of multiple Chinese spy flights in the airspace over the island.
A single spy flight was detected crossing the island on Monday, followed by three more on Tuesday, just days before a crucial presidential election that will have ramifications on relations between China and Taiwan.
Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Sun Li-fang told reporters Tuesday that the spy flight appears to be built to collect atmospheric data, but it is unknown if it has other functions.
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A view of Taipei 101 outside the Presidential Office Building, Taipei, Taiwan. (Tommy Walker/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Sun said the government “is closely monitoring and controlling the situation, taking appropriate measures and summarizing its flight paths for judgment and analysis,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
Last year, the United States documented a similar spy flight that crossed the United States before being shot down off the coast of South Carolina.
Another Chinese spy flight was discovered after it crashed in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii. Three other Chinese surveillance vessels were found to have flown over Texas, Florida and Guam during the Trump administration.
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A suspected Chinese spy flight is headed toward the ocean after being shot down last year off the coast of Surfside Beach, South Carolina. (Randall Hill/Reuters)
It is unclear how long Beijing has been operating the spy program, which relies on outdated spy flight technology along with modern surveillance techniques. Since 2018, spy flights have been detected on all five continents.
The program has largely been run from China’s Hainan Island province, off its southeastern coast in the South China Sea, by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). It is known to operate over regional neighbors such as Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines and India.
But these spy flights, used to gather military intelligence from nations that are of strategic interest to Beijing, have also emerged before in the United States.
Lai Ching-te (L), presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), shakes hands with Ko Wen-je (R), presidential candidate of the opposition Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), as Hou Yu-ih ( C), presidential candidate of the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party, watches during a debate in Taipei. ((Photo by Huang Shih-chi/POOL/AFP) (Photo by HUANG SHIH-CHI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images))
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According to opinion polls, the current favorite to become Taiwan’s next president is the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s candidate, Lai Ching-te.
Taiwan’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang, traditionally supports close ties with the mainland and has promised reopen talks with China if he wins the elections. But the Kuomintang also says that the people of Taiwan will decide its future.
Fox News Digital’s Jennifer Griffin, Houston Keene and Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.
