Taiwan's Defence Ministry says a Chinese military surveillance balloon was spotted in the Taiwan Strait, as well as a large-scale movement of military aircraft and ships. The ministry referred to it both as a "PLA surveillance balloon" and as "1 PRC's balloon", using the acronym for the People's Republic of China, China's official name. A Defence Ministry spokesperson said they had no additional information. It also said 26 Chinese military aircraft were detected, along with 10 Chinese navy ships, in the 24 hours before 6 am on Friday. The US labelled the balloon a military aircraft and shot it down with a missile and recovered what it said was sophisticated surveillance equipment it was transporting.

Source: The Telegraph December 08, 2023 22:17 UTC