The six balloons were spotted in the 24 hours to 6:00 am on Friday (2200 GMT Thursday), the ministry said, in its daily tally of Chinese military activity around the island.

Along with the balloons, nine Chinese military aircraft, six warships and two official ships were detected over the same period near Taiwan.

While Taiwan calls itself a sovereign nation, China claims the island as part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control.