The military of Taiwan has shot down an unidentified civilian drone that breached its air defense identification zone near an islet off the Chinese coast.
Beijing, which asserts Taiwan as its own despite the adamant opposition of the Taipei administration, has been conducting military drills all across the island since early last month in retaliation for US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taipei.
Although the Taiwanese administration has sworn not to incite or heighten hostilities, CNA reports that recent instances of Chinese drones repeatedly buzzing Taiwanese-controlled islets near China's coast have particularly incensed the authorities.
A drone entered restricted air space above Lion Islet on Thursday just after noon (local time), according to a statement from the defense command for Kinmen, a collection of Taiwan-controlled islands located between the Chinese cities of Xiamen and Quanzhou.
Taiwan claims that if Chinese military troops invade its territory, it will use its right to self-defense and launch a counterattack.
Soldiers on the islet fired at the drone after trying to repel it in vain; the drone's remnants fell into the water, it was said.
Taiwan Gets Ready To Defend Itself Against China
Tuesday, just after President Tsai Ing-wen instructed the military to take "strong countermeasures" against what she regarded as Chinese provocations, Taiwan fired warning shots at a drone for the first time in the Taiwan-China conflict.
According to ABC, Pres. Tsai said that China was still trying to frighten Taiwan by invading Taiwan with drones and using other "grey-zone" methods when she addressed the military forces earlier on Thursday.
Pres. Tsai emphasized once more that Taiwan would avoid escalating conflicts, but she said that this would not exclude Taiwan from taking defensive action.
She has also instructed the Ministry of National Defence to act swiftly and decisively to safeguard national security, according to a statement.
"Let the military guard the country without fear and with solid confidence," Pres. Tsai said.
China Insists Authority Over Taiwan
Chinese drones have routinely flown close to Taiwan's tiny groupings of islands along China's shore, which has drawn complaints from Taiwan.
Lin Wen-Huang, Taiwan's deputy chief of the general staff for operations and planning, said that the military would use the same authority to launch a counterattack against Chinese drones that disobeyed orders to depart Taiwanese soil after posing a danger.
The islets in Taiwan's Kinmen chain, which are located close to the Chinese towns of Xiamen and Quanzhou, were buzzed by drones once more on Wednesday, according to the Taiwanese army.
The drones later returned to Xiamen, according to the Taiwanese military.
Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, repeated Beijing's stance that Taiwan belonged to China during a routine press conference, according to a report from Reuters.
"Firstly I need to tell you, Taiwan is a province of China, it has no so-called defense ministry.
The Taiwan authorities are playing up their nervousness, this is meaningless," the Chinese official said.
The ministry earlier last week labeled Taiwanese allegations of China drone harassment as "not worth fussing about."
