Taiwan’s military has said it shot down an unidentified civilian drone over the outlying island of Kinmen amid a continuing increase in Chinese military activity around the island since last month’s controversial visit by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The drone, which was shot down on Thursday, is the first to be hit following a warning from Taiwan that it would use live ammunition against drones. The threat came after a video of Taiwanese soldiers throwing rocks at a Chinese drone went viral.

Drone flights have reportedly escalated near Kinmen, which is located a few kilometres off the coast of China, and around the Matsu Islands in the East China Sea.

The decision to fire on Chinese drones is a departure for Taiwan’s military, said Yen-Chi Hsu, an assistant researcher at Taiwan’s Council on Strategic and Wargaming Studies.

Taiwan’s military said China has made use of “civilian aircraft, weather balloons, recreational fishing boats and marine research vessels” against it, according to government media.

Credit: Aljazeera.com