Taiwan fires live rounds at unidentified drones near outlying islands

Last updated Aug 31, 2022

Taiwan has fired warning shots at three unidentified drones that flew near its outlying islands.

It is not clear who was flying the drones, but all three were seen flying back towards the Chinese mainland, said Taiwan’s defense ministry.

It comes as Taipei has over the past weeks complained of Chinese drones flying close to Taiwan-controlled islets near the Chinese coast.

It is the first time warning shots have been fired at such drones.

The Kinmen Defense Command said three civilian drones were spotted on Thursday evening in Dadan, Erdan and Shiyu – three Kinmen County islets that are just a few kilometres away from the Chinese city of Xiamen.

It added that it fired warning flares, before eventually firing a live round at a returning drone. The drones eventually headed towards Xiamen.

There was no immediate response from China, though Beijing had earlier dismissed complaints from Taiwan about repeated harassment by Chinese drones.

“Chinese drones flying over China’s territory, what’s there to be surprised at?” said foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Monday.

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry expressed anger at his comments, saying “uninvited people are called thieves”.

Earlier last week, Taiwan unveiled a record defence budget – proposing an increased budget of T$586.3bn ($19bn; £16bn).

Agencies