Taiwan’s Kinmen Defense Command shot down an unidentified observation drone that flew from mainland China into the restricted waters of Shiyu Island.
“An unknown civilian aerial camera was found to enter the airspace above the restricted waters of Shiyu Island,” Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense reported on September 1, 2022. “The garrisoned troops acted in accordance with the procedures, and after the warning was ignored, they shot it down.”
On August 30, 2022, the ministry announced that its soldiers would start to shoot down intruding drones from China that failed to heed warning calls. It is the first instance of live ammunition being used by the Taiwanese armed forces to destroy an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) since the rule came into force.
In the past weeks, several incursions of unidentified Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) were reported over the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen islands, off the southeastern coast of mainland China. Though the operator of the UAVs is unknown, the defense command suspects it to be the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China.
These incursions began during PLA’s largest-ever military exercises around Taiwan between August 4 and 7, 2022.