Taiwan spots a record 8 balloons from mainland China ahead of Lunar New Year

Beijing has ramped up military pressure in recent years, and deploys warplanes and naval vessels around the island on a nearly daily basis.

In February last year, Taiwan’s military alerted aviation authorities after spotting a balloon floating in the island’s airspace but did not say where the balloon came from or provide a detailed location.

‘Shoot them down’: Taiwan vows to destroy ‘risky’ mainland Chinese balloons

The latest balloon sightings came after Taiwan’s presidential election last month, which was won by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s William Lai Ching-te, who Beijing regards as a “separatist”.

Beijing warned ahead of the vote that a win by Lai would bring “war and decline” to Taiwan.

But it did not send an oversized number of warplanes and naval vessels in the election’s immediate aftermath.

Since the January 13 vote, the largest incursions included 33 People’s Liberation Army warplanes detected around Taiwan, according to Taipei.

The largest number of PLA warplanes recorded during a 24-hour window came in September, when Taiwan recorded 103 aircraft around the island.