The Kinmen Defense Command yesterday said it would drive Chinese drones out of Kinmen County, and shoot them down if warnings are ignored.
The command made the announcement after video footage taken from a drone that circled above troops stationed in the county’s Lieyu Township (烈嶼) circulated on Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo (微博) on Saturday.
Troops had noticed the drone over the township on Saturday, and had determined it to be a civilian drone, the command said in a news release.
Photo: Still image taken from a video on Sina Weibo
In accordance with standard procedure, the troops fired a warning flare at the drone and went on high alert, it said.
The military aims to avoid escalating such situations, but would take countermeasures to prevent incursions into the country’s airspace by drones and other airborne objects, the command said, adding that China has been making such incursions with increasing regularity over the past few weeks.
“These repeated provocations are a threat to Taiwan’s national defense and aviation safety, and we will take necessary measures to stop them,” the command said.
On Aug. 16, a separate video circulated on Sina Weibo showing Taiwanese troops throwing stones at a Chinese drone that entered airspace above Erdan Islet (二膽).
The incident was criticized by the Ministry of National Defense as a Chinese attempt at cognitive warfare and sparked public debate about how the military should respond to “gray-zone” tactics — defined as coercive actions carried out by seemingly non-state or nonmilitary actors.
The ministry on Wednesday last week said it had already drafted plans for a drone defense system, which it expects to deploy next year.
GEOSAT Aerospace & Technology Inc (經緯航太科技) chief executive officer Lo Cheng-fang (羅正方) yesterday said that the army should not hesitate to use counter-drone weapons if any are spotted in Taiwan’s territorial airspace.
When faced by China’s provocative gray-zone tactics, the worst thing Taiwan can do is nothing, because it would simply encourage Beijing to be more aggressive, he said.
Lu Li-shih (呂禮詩), a former navy lieutenant commander, said that the army should try to set up a virtual perimeter known as a geofence around a no-fly zone between the offshore counties and China to stop drones from entering.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said that the ministry could work with domestic drone manufacturers to devise drone-defense solutions.
Speaking about an incident yesterday in which two Chinese fishers washed up alive in the county, Wang said that authorities should provide all necessary assistance in such cases, but exercise caution and thoroughly investigate whether other motives are at play.
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
FIRST TRIAL: Ko’s lawyers sought reduced bail and other concessions, as did other defendants, but the bail judge denied their requests, citing the severity of the sentences Former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was yesterday sentenced to 17 years in prison and had his civil rights suspended for six years over corruption, embezzlement and other charges. Taipei prosecutors in December last year asked the Taipei District Court for a combined 28-year, six-month sentence for the four cases against Ko, who founded the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The cases were linked to the Core Pacific City (京華城購物中心) redevelopment project and the mismanagement of political donations. Other defendants convicted on separate charges included Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇), who was handed a 15-year, six-month sentence; Core Pacific
RSS