Japan Defence Ministry ‘strongly suspects’ Chinese surveillance balloons have entered Japanese territory

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Defence Ministry said on Tuesday that it “strongly suspects” Chinese surveillance balloons have entered Japanese territory at least three times since 2019.

The balloons were detected in 2019, 2020 and 2021, the ministry said in a statement, adding that Japan had called on China’s government to verify the facts of the situation and make sure it does not happen again.

(Reporting by Elaine Lies, editing by Ed Osmond)