Chinese drones have been buzzing Taiwan’s defenses
At first the Taiwanese soldiers ignored the drones flying from China. Then, as the flights increased, they fired warning shots. Finally, the soldiers shot one into the sea.
In the past month, nearly 30 unarmed drones have buzzed two islands controlled by Taiwan near China’s southern coast. The drones were mostly civilian, or unidentified, but were clearly targeting the garrison of Taiwanese soldiers stationed on the rocky outcrops.
The drones are adding to tensions between the two sides that have escalated in the past month to new highs.
“China is using such harassment to increase pressure, deliberately raising tensions around Taiwan,” said Chieh Chung, an analyst at Taiwan’s National Policy Foundation. “Don’t assume that a civilian drone has nothing to do with military purposes.”
In the past week, in addition to the usual assortment of warplanes, China’s military sent four drones into airspace near Taiwan, the island’s Defence Ministry said. China flew the TB-001, a combat drone also known as the Twin-Tailed Scorpion, on Thursday, and two reconnaissance drones on Friday and Saturday, according to Taiwan.
For China, the military drones could be used to collect intelligence. The civilian drones are a new source of domestic propaganda aimed at undermining Taiwan’s image.
For Taiwan, the drones represent the latest front in China’s mounting campaign of intimidation and psychological warfare, known as “grey zone” tactics. The frequent incursions put pressure on Taiwan’s government to respond firmly.
President Tsai Ing-wen has warned China that Taiwan’s military will not stand by in the face of aggression.
“We will not provoke disputes, and we will exercise self-restraint, but it does not mean that we will not counter,” she said in a recent speech on the Penghu Islands in the Taiwan Strait.
On Sept 1, two days after Tsai’s speech, the Taiwanese soldiers downed the civilian drone, a move that was unusual for Taiwan, which has largely been restrained in pushing back against China.
Part of the challenge for Taiwan is that its military is equipped to deal with China’s fighter jets but is not accustomed to such low-level but constant disturbances, said Drew Thompson, a former Pentagon official who specialized in China.
The drone flights are the latest iteration of “grey zone” tactics China has used over the past few years on Taiwan, while stopping short of war, analysts say. Such tactics have run the gamut from daily flights by fighter jets over the median line of the Taiwan Strait to cyberattacks on civilian institutions like Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
China has steadily increased the number of its military flights around Taiwan in an effort to wear down the readiness of Taiwan’s air force, the experts say. Forcing Taiwan’s pilots to scramble their jets constantly, on short notice, leads to fatigue and lower morale.
Taiwan’s government also recently announced a hefty increase in its annual military budget. The US$19 billion budget represented a 13.9 per cent increase over the previous year, compared with increases of an average of less than 4 per cent each prior year since 2017. Some of the money will be spent on new fighter jets, the Defence Ministry said.
In comparison, China announced a military budget of US$229 billion earlier this year.
Chang Yan-ting, a retired deputy commander of Taiwan’s air force, said soldiers shot the drone down because it flew above military posts, ignored warnings and stayed for more than three minutes.
“We gave it time to fly away,” he said. “The army had no choice but to shoot it down.”