---
title: "China’s Military Is Apparently Also Tracking UFOs"
description: "China's People's Liberation Army is taking a closer look at the rising instances of UFOs throughout their country — and its using AI to help."
date: "2021-06-05"
modified: "2021-06-05"
authors:
  - name: "Tony Ho Tran"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/ttran"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/chinas-military-tracking-ufos"
categories:
  - "Military"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "artificial intelligence"
  - "china"
  - "the digest"
  - "UFO"
---

# China’s Military Is Apparently Also Tracking UFOs

![China is pushing back against all the criticism over the uncontrolled reentry and landing of its Long March 5B rocket on Saturday](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/china-rocket-booster.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Futurism\</em\>*

## Unidentified Air Conditions

China's military is using artificial intelligence to research sightings of UFOs.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is taking a closer look at what it describes as "unidentified air conditions," [according to *The South China Morning Post*](<https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3136078/china-military-uses-ai-track-rapidly-increasing-ufos>)*.* This appears to be China’s version of the US military's "unidentified aerial phenomena."

"The frequent occurrence of unidentified air conditions in recent years… brings severe challenges to air defense security of our country," said Chen Li, a researcher with China’s Air Force Early Warning Academy, in a 2019 report to the country’s top information technology scientists attained by the *South China Morning Post*.

## Tracking UFOs with AI

One way China seems to stand out from the US is their use of AI in order to study the unidentified craft.

Li said that AI can "think outside the box" by connecting seemingly disparate pieces of data sets from various locations and times. Doing so can help the PLA more quickly and concretely assess whether the UFOs are craft from hostile countries, a natural occurrence, or even something otherworldly.

Though this is likely to fuel even more speculation about visitors from other planets, many Chinese scientists and officials believe that most — if not all — of the UFO activities are either man-made or naturally occurring. However, their counterparts in the US are starting to [warm up to the idea that it could *possibly* be aliens](<https://futurism.com/officials-aliens-ufo-sightings>).

**READ MORE:** [China military uses AI to track rapidly increasing UFOs](<https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3136078/china-military-uses-ai-track-rapidly-increasing-ufos>) \[*The South China Morning Post*\]

**More on UFOs:** [*NASA Says It’s Going to Start Studying UFOs*](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-studying-ufos>)

## Author
Tony Tran is a former reporter for Futurism, and now an editor at the Daily Beast. His work has been seen in Playboy, HuffPost, Narratively, and wherever else fine writing is published. He lives in Chicago where he frequently plans tabletop gaming sessions for his friends.