An high-altitude balloon is being deployed to gather weather data in Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan Province on March 10, 2021. File photo:VCG

Media on the island of Taiwan on Sunday speculated that the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has been deploying high-altitude balloons to the island this month, with the island's defense authority claiming that the balloons were more likely for meteorological research purposes.

The hype by the Taiwan media and the response from the Taiwan military show that the "Taiwan independence" secessionist forces now have guilty consciences over their secessionist plans and moves, to an extent that they are suspicious about and frightened by everything related to the Chinese mainland, said mainland experts.

Media on the island of Taiwan reported on Sunday that since Spring Festival, or the start of February, a long-range rocket brigade attached to the PLA 72nd Group Army based in East China's Fujian Province began to deploy high-altitude balloons to the northern and central regions of the Taiwan island, as they often float at about 3,000 meters in the sky.

The reports went on and related the balloon presence to the ongoing Ukraine crisis, speculating that the balloons flew past Taiwan island to maritime regions to the east at the sensitive time.

While confirming the presence of the mainland balloons, Taiwan's defense authority said on Sunday that it believes the balloons were for meteorological research purposes, media reported.

Despite this, some analysts on the island of Taiwan said the balloons could still be used for military reconnaissance purposes, however the likelihood is lower. 

Mainland military expert and TV commentator Song Zhongping told the Global Times on Sunday that the balloons are indeed more likely weather balloons, because for military purposes they would need to be larger and more distinguishable to carry payloads.

The reason why the weather balloons floated to Taiwan could be as simple as that the ropes that are supposed to tie them broke, Song said.

Some people on the island of Taiwan, like those in the Democratic Progressive Party authority who harbor malicious intentions, are suspicious about and frightened by everything related to the mainland, thinking that it could be linked to the PLA, Song said. "They have guilty consciences."

In a similar incident recently, a civilian Y-12 transport aircraft from the Chinese mainland reportedly approached Dongyin Island, a Taiwan-administered island not far from the Chinese mainland, on February 5. Taiwan's defense authority said at the time that the mainland was "using the civilian aircraft to test Taiwan's response measures."