Taiwan Shoots at Chinese Drone for First Time In History

The online newspaper Taiwan News noted that the incident marked the first time Taipei has used live ammunition to fire warning shots on a Chinese drone. On Tuesday, a Chinese drone violated the airspace above one of the sovereign island nation’s outer islets, prompting the military in Taiwan to fire live ammunition at the drone.

The Kinmen Defense Command (KDC) of the Taiwanese Army released the following statement to confirm the conversation from August 30.

Beginning at 4:23 p.m. Three groups of three ‘civilian’ drones were seen flying above Dadan Island, Erdan Island, and Shi Islet in the Lieyu Township of Kinmen County that afternoon. The UAVs, or unmanned aerial vehicles, flew away from the islands and toward China’s Xiamen after being alerted by Taiwanese forces using signal lights.

Another drone re-entered the airspace over Erdan Island’s restricted seas at 5:59 p.m. Again issuing warnings in line with protocol were Taiwanese soldiers. Soldiers fired live shots at the UAV to chase it away, but it persisted in circling above the island. At 6 o’clock, the UAV took off in the direction of Xiamen.

On August 28, Taiwan’s KDC issued a warning that any Chinese drones violating Taiwanese airspace and disobeying orders from the island’s military to evacuate will be shot down. Taipei issued the warning immediately after internet video footage revealed that drones had repeatedly and extraordinarily intrusively flown over Taiwanese airspace in the days prior. On August 28, Taiwan News reported that further social media videos showing Chinese unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) invading Taiwanese military locations had started to circulate.

Recently, images and videos of Chinese drones violating Taiwanese airspace and capturing up-close shots of Taiwanese soldiers have surfaced on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. In one instance, soldiers can be seen hurling rocks at a drone. In the most recent incident, which occurred on Saturday, August 27, a Chinese drone recorded images of Taiwanese troops posted at a lookout position in the Lieyu Township of Kinmen County.