Tracking China's 'grey zone' balloon flights over Taiwan

Since December, about a month before Taiwan’s presidential election, China began sending a different type of intruder over the Taiwan Strait: more than 100 balloons, some of which passed directly through the island’s territorial airspace or busy, Taipei-controlled air corridors for civil aviation. Experts say the balloons could be psychological warfare, carry surveillance tools or simply gather meteorological data. On some days, as many as eight were detected within a few hours; at other times, weeks passed without any balloons at all. In the week leading up to Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, an average of three balloons were spotted each day. Then on April 11, they stopped altogether. Flight paths of balloons TAIWANCHINATaiwan StraitStrait median lineTaipeiXiamenFuzhou The increased frequency has raised alarms both domestically and abroad. A senior Taiwanese security official briefed on the matter said Chinese balloon flights near Taiwan took place on an “unprecedented scale” in the weeks leading up to Taiwan’s elections and described the incidents as part of a Chinese pressure campaign – so-called gray-zone warfare designed to exhaust a foe using irregular tactics without resorting to open combat. Taiwan inaugurates its new president, Lai Ching-te, on May 20. China, which views democratically governed