Taiwan soldiers fire shots to expel Chinese drones

ROC Central News Agency

08/31/2022 10:49 AM

Taipei, Aug. 31 (CNA) Taiwanese soldiers stationed on islands close to China's coast fired shots Tuesday to expel Chinese commercial drones, the first more aggressive response the military has taken against the recent drone incursions.

Previously, Taiwanese troops had only fired warning flares in response to such incursions and refrained from more aggressive countermeasures, such as shooting the drones down, to avoid further escalating cross-strait tensions.

In a statement, Kinmen's Defense Command said soldiers stationed on three Kinmen County islets -- Dadan (大膽), Erdan (二膽) and Shi Islet (獅嶼) -- each detected a Chinese drone flying in restricted areas near their respective outposts at around 4:23 p.m. Tuesday.

In accordance with its four-step rules of engagement for drone encounters -- "firing warning flares, reporting the incursion, expelling the drone and ultimately shooting it down" -- the command said soldiers first fired warning flares near these drones.

As the drones continued to hover, shots with live ammunition were fired to expel them, and they then flew to Xiamen on China's coast about 5 kilometers away, the command said.

A similar incident occurred again at around 5:59 p.m. on Erdan islet. A single Chinese drone flew back to Xiamen a minute later after troops fired shots at it, the command said.

The command provided no further details, however, on how many shots were fired or the kind of weapons used.

The information on Taiwanese troops firing shots at Chinese drones was released hours after President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said early Tuesday that she had instructed the Armed Forces to take "strong countermeasures" when necessary to protect Taiwan's airspace.

Taiwan's military has come under heavy criticism for its apparent lack of a serious response to Chinese drone incursions in the airspace of Taiwan-controlled offshore islands.

Chinese netizens have recently released a series of clips taken by civilian-operated drones showing them flying close to and filming military lookout posts, which have embarrassed Taiwan's military.

Amid the criticism, Taiwan's Army on Monday made public for the first time what it described as its four-step rules of engagement for drone encounters.

To deal with the rising drone threat over the long term, the MND said it is working on a drone defense system that will be installed by next year in Taiwan's two offshore counties located close to China's coast -- Kinmen and Lienchiang.

(By Joseph Yeh)

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