HONG KONG, December 8. /TASS/. A Chinese balloon crossed the Taiwan Strait median line on Thursday, the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense reported.

The balloon was detected 101 nautical miles (187 km) southwest of the Taiwanese city of Keelung at a height of about 6.4 km. The Taiwanese military said it had travelled for about an hour before disappearing.

In early February, US authorities said they had detected a "surveillance balloon" over the continental US. The balloon was downed on February 4 in US air space off South Carolina. The Chinese Foreign Ministry expressed regret that the abnormal situation led to the weather balloon flying into US air space.

Taiwan, China’s largest island, has been governed by its local administration since 1949. Since then, Taiwan has preserved the flag and some other symbols of the Republic of China that had existed in mainland China before the Communists came to power. Beijing considers Taiwan a province of the People’s Republic of China.