The decision of the Taiwanese military to shoot down a Chinese drone over the Kinmen Islands controlled by Taipei is considered an “adequate measure”, since the device did not respond to warnings. This was stated by the chairman of the Government of Taiwan Su Zhenchang, reports Reuters. “They [the PRC Armed Forces] repeatedly ignored our warnings about the need to leave the area, and we had no choice but to exercise self-defense and shoot. This is the most adequate reaction after the manifestations of restraint and warnings,” the Prime minister said.
A Chinese drone was shot down in the airspace of Taiwan near the island of Shiyu (Kinmen Archipelago) on September 1. According to local authorities, the device carried out illegal photography and did not leave the closed area after the subsequent warning shots in his direction.
Jinmen is an archipelago with an area of 153 square kilometers, located two dozen kilometers from mainland China and belongs to Taiwan. The population of the island counts about 128 thousand people.
Taiwan declared secession from China during the civil War in 1949. Beijing does not recognize the independence of the island and considers it its province. The administrative status of the region has not yet been settled.
Tensions between China and Taiwan have increased in recent weeks due to the visit of the Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to the island. On August 2, the latter arrived in Taiwan, despite all the objections of Beijing. After getting off the plane, Pelosi announced that the main goal of the American delegation was to support Taiwan’s vibrant and dynamic democracy. She left the island on August 3.
The Chinese authorities criticized Pelosi’s visit, saying that she defied the world, deliberately committed a provocation and violated the principle of “one China”. They condemned the visits of other representatives of Washington. On August 2, the Chinese military began naval and air exercises with firing as a response to Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan. In China, they said that they would end on Sunday, August 7. But the day before the end, Beijing announced another maneuvers, until August 15 in the southern part of the Yellow Sea.
Tags Subscribe to VK RBC Get news faster than anyone