Taiwan destroys an unidentified drone over a Chinese island
Over one of its islands, which is only a few kilometers from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan claims to have shot down an unidentifiable civilian drone.
A little after noon on Thursday, a drone was seen flying over the waters of Lion Islet, a little island in the Kinmen County grouping that is governed by Taiwan and is located about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the coast of Xiamen, China. The drone was shot down, according to the Kinmen Defense Command, a division of Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense, after warning flares failed to scare it away.
This incident joins a succession of others that have happened recently close to the offshore group of islands. Four days in a row, reports of unidentified drones in the Kinmen region have been made, but Taiwan has never shot one down before.
On Tuesday, Taiwanese military fired warning shots at a drone that re-entered the region and flares at three unidentifiable drones that were flying close to Kinmen.
Although China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed on Thursday that it was "not aware of the situation" and that Taiwan's exaggeration of the tension was "pointless," it is unclear who is controlling the drones. Following the event on Tuesday, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen declared that she had directed the Defense Ministry to take "forceful countermeasures" against what she claimed were Chinese methods for "grey zone warfare."
In reaction to Chinese military drills in August, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense reiterated that statement on Wednesday at a global press conference, declaring that it will "act in accordance with operational directives to exercise our rights of self-defense."Since US Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taipei in August, tensions between Taiwan and the mainland have increased. Since a visit by US Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei in August. China's Communist Party claims Taiwan, a self-governing democracy, as part of its territory despite never having governed it and has long vowed to "reunify" the island with the Chinese mainland, by force if necessary. China responded to Pelosi's trip by ordering days worth of military drills around Taiwan.
On Monday, asked about reports of private drones flying in the Kinmen area, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded: "Chinese drones flying over China's territory -- what's there to be surprised at". This raising too much concern as what will be the followed reaction.
References
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/01/asia/taiwan-shoots-down-civilian-drone-kinmen-intl-hnk/index.html
https://eurasiantimes.com/taiwan-bares-fangs-says-will-shoot-down-infiltrating-chinese-drones/