Taipei [Taiwan], August 30 (ANI): Taiwanese military fired at a Chinese military drone after it entered the “restricted” air-space over a the Taiwanese-controlled island, media reports said citing a statement released by the island’s defence ministry on Tuesday.
“At around 5:59 pm, a drone entered the restricted air space over the Erdan Island once again. The defence forces issued warnings in accordance with protocol . Because the drone continued to hover over the area, the defence forces opened fire and forced it to leave. The drone flew towards Xiamen at around 6 pm,” the Taiwanese defence ministry said according to Sputnik.
The latest incident comes in the backdrop in an atmosphere of rising tensions in the region especially in the aftermath of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit.
Kinmen defense forces would continue to stay on high alert and step up its surveillance, it added. Erdan Island is part of the Kinmen Archipelago. The city of Xiamen is located in coastal Chinese province of Fujian.
Taiwan’s military will begin shooting down Chinese drones that intrude into the airspace of its outlying islands, the defense ministry in Taipei had earlier announced, while a White House National Security Council spokesman said the U.S. “will not accept” any “new normal” imposed by China in the Taiwan Strait, reported Radio Free Asia (RFA).
Since mid-August, a number of civilian drones have been spotted flying over the outlying island of Kinmen, 180 kilometers from Taiwan’s main island but less than 10 kilometers from China. On one occasion, on August 16, two Taiwanese soldiers wearing masks reportedly threw rocks at a Chinese drone when it flew above their military post.
The Kinmen Defence Command said two other Chinese drones were detected at Little Kinmen island and nearby Lion islet on Saturday and Monday respectively. The one that passed over Lion islet at around 4 pm was flying very low, only 30 meters from the ground, it said.
According to a statement on dealing with intruding drones from the Command on Sunday, troops are instructed to follow the procedure of “firing warning flares, reporting the incursion, expelling the drone, and ultimately shooting it down.”
After the video clip from August 16, deemed “highly embarrassing” by viewers, was posted on Chinese microblogging site Weibo, the Taiwanese defense ministry said a national drone defense system would be set up by 2023 and priority would be given to outer islands such as Kinmen.
While operating it, soldiers and officers “will continue to follow the principle of ‘not to provoke conflicts and not to cause disputes’ and will use technological equipment to take appropriate countermeasures,” the ministry said last Thursday.
In a possible tit-for-tat response by America for Chinese incursions, a Taiwanese media outlet said that unidentified U.S. military aircraft flew into China’s airspace on August 28 and August 29. (ANI)
This report is auto-generated from ANI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Source: The Print
