The balloons were spotted along with five Chinese aircraft and six warships in the 24 hours to 6:00 am (5:00 PM ET on Thursday), the ministry said in its daily report.

It was the highest number of balloons recorded, according to an AFP tally of the data dating back to December 2023.

China insists democratic Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring the island under its control.

China China says it's ready for "any type of war" with US in chilling response to Trump tariffs

Beijing has increased the deployment of fighter jets and naval vessels around Taiwan in recent years to press its claim of sovereignty, which Taipei rejects.

Taiwan is a potential flashpoint for a war between China and the US, which is the island's most important backer and biggest arms supplier.

While the US is legally bound to provide arms to Taiwan – which Beijing opposes – Washington has long maintained "strategic ambiguity" when it comes to whether it would deploy its military to defend it from a Chinese attack.

Despite long-standing strong bipartisan support in the US Congress for Taiwan, there are fears that US President Donald Trump might not consider the island worth defending if China attacked.