Action near islet comes after Taipei vowed to take tough measures to deal with increase in such intrusions
\nShiyu Islet
\nTaiwan\u2019s military has shot down for the first time an unidentified civilian drone that entered its airspace near an islet off the Chinese coast, after the government vowed to take tough measures to deal with an increase in such intrusions.
\nBeijing, which claims Taiwan as its own against the objections of the Taipei government, has held military exercises around the island since early last month in reaction to a visit to Taipei by the US House of Representatives speaker, Nancy Pelosi.
\nTaiwan\u2019s government has said it will not provoke or escalate tensions but has been particularly angered recently by repeated cases of Chinese drones buzzing islands controlled by Taiwan close to China\u2019s coast.
\nThe defence command for Kinmen, a group of Taiwan-controlled islands opposite the Chinese cities Xiamen and Quanzhou, said in a statement released by Taiwan\u2019s defence ministry that the drone entered restricted airspace over Lion Islet just after midday local time (0500 BST).
\nTroops on the islet tried warning it away but to no effect, so shot it down, with the remains landing in the sea, it added.
\nTaiwan fired warning shots at a drone for the first time on Tuesday shortly after President Tsai Ing-wen ordered the military to take \u201cstrong countermeasures\u201d against what she termed Chinese provocations.
\nSpeaking to the armed forces earlier on Thursday, Tsai said China was continuing to use drone intrusions and other \u201cgrey zone\u201d tactics to try to intimidate Taiwan, her office cited her as saying in a statement.
\nTsai again emphasised that Taiwan would not provoke disputes but that did not mean it would not take countermeasures, the statement added.
\n\u201cShe has also ordered the ministry of national defence to take necessary and strong countermeasures in a timely manner to defend national security,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Action near islet comes after Taipei vowed to take tough measures to deal with increase in such intrusions Shiyu Islet Taiwan\u2019s military has shot down for the first time an unidentified civilian drone that entered its airspace near an islet off the Chinese coast, after the government vowed to take tough measures to deal with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280996,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-280986","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n