TAIPEI (Reuters) -&nbsp;Taiwan's military said on Thursday it had found the remains of a probable&nbsp;crashed&nbsp;weather&nbsp;balloon&nbsp;likely&nbsp;from China on a&nbsp;remote&nbsp;and strategically located&nbsp;island&nbsp;near the&nbsp;Chinese&nbsp;coast, amid a dispute between China and the United States over spy&nbsp;balloons.
Taiwan, claimed by China as its own territory, has complained of increased harassment by Beijing's armed forces over the past three years, including fighter jets flying near the&nbsp;island&nbsp;and drones buzzing close to offshore islets.
Taiwan's army said that late Thursday morning its forces on Dongyin&nbsp;island, part of the&nbsp;Taiwan-controlled Matsu archipelago off the coast of China's Fuzhou, observed an unknown object falling from the sky, then found the remnants of a&nbsp;balloon&nbsp;on a shooting range.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The sphere is about 1 metre in diameter with an instrument box marked with simplified&nbsp;Chinese&nbsp;characters - which are used in China but not&nbsp;Taiwan&nbsp;- and the wording "Taiyuan Radio No. 1 Factory Co., Ltd.", "GTS13 digital datmospheric sounding instrument" and "meteorological instrument", the army said.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Taiyuan is a major city in northern China. Reuters was not immediately able to locate contacts for the factory.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "The preliminary investigation determined that the remains were of a meteorological detecting instrument, which have been collected by the relevant departments for further evaluation,"&nbsp;Taiwan's army said in a short statement.
Speaking to reporters at parliament on Friday morning, Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said the ministry has dispatched a team to investigate the&nbsp;crashed&nbsp;balloon.
"The national army ... will not jump to conclusions just by looking at appearances. Answers will only be made after investigation," he said.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Taiwan's defence ministry said on Tuesday it had not spotted any surveillance&nbsp;balloons from China in its vicinity, as a dispute between China and the United States over spy&nbsp;balloons triggers worries about rising military tensions.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Dongyin sits at the top of the&nbsp;Taiwan&nbsp;Strait on an important passage for any southbound&nbsp;Chinese&nbsp;forces from the eastern province of Zhejiang if they attack&nbsp;Taiwan, and the&nbsp;island&nbsp;is well defended.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Last year,&nbsp;Taiwan&nbsp;said a small, propeller-driven&nbsp;Chinese&nbsp;aircraft flew very close to Dongyin in what the government said they suspected was China deploying a civilian aircraft to test the responses of the&nbsp;Taiwanese military.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; China also deployed drones close to&nbsp;Taiwan-controlled&nbsp;islands near the&nbsp;Chinese&nbsp;coast last August when Beijing staged war games near&nbsp;Taiwan, which only ended after&nbsp;Taiwanese forces shot one down.
&nbsp;
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Yimou Lee; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Christopher Cushing)

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Taiwan finds crashed weather balloon on remote island, likely Chinese