Taiwan will deploy drone defensive systems following the release of a rock-throwing video
Following the release of footage showing Taiwanese soldiers throwing stones at a Chinese drone that buzzed a guard post near China’s coast, Taiwan’s defense minister announced that the country will begin deploying drone defensive systems on its offshore islands in the following year.
After US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei this month, which incensed Beijing, Taiwan has complained of repeated Chinese drone incursions near its offshore islands as part of China’s war games and exercises. These incursions have taken place as part of China’s war games and drills.
Despite the strenuous protestations of the administration in Taipei, China maintains that Taiwan, which is democratically governed and part of China, is an integral part of China.
Two soldiers can be seen in the brief video clip, which was initially shared on Chinese social media before being picked up by Taiwanese media, throwing stones at a drone that got close to their guard position and trying to hit it with the stones.
The defense command of Kinmen, a group of Taiwan-controlled islands that sit opposite China’s Xiamen and Quanzhou cities, issued a statement late Wednesday saying the incident took place on Erdan islet on August 16, and confirmed that the soldiers had thrown stones to scare off what it called a civilian drone.
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The Ministry of Defense of Taiwan announced in a separate statement that it will begin the deployment of anti-drone systems at the beginning of the following year. These systems will initially be installed on the more insignificant islands.
It was also said that officers and soldiers of all ranks will continue to practice vigilance in accordance with the principle of “not exacerbating tensions or provoking problems.”
The government of China has remained silent over the video, despite the fact that it has been viewed millions of times on Chinese social media platforms, where users have poked fun at it.
It has also sparked a heated debate in Taiwan, with some people on social media calling the incident a “humiliation” for the island’s armed forces and urging the defense ministry to step up its countermeasures to the increasingly frequent drone incursions. In addition, it has sparked a debate in China, with some people calling the incident a “victory” for China’s military.
The defense command of Kinmen stated that the video was another instance of China’s “cognitive warfare” against Taiwan and an attempt to “denigrate” its military forces.
Wang Ting-yu, a prominent politician for Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party, referred to the event as “extremely serious,” and he questioned why Taiwan’s defense ministry did not reply to the intrusion. Wang Ting-yu is part of the party that is currently in control of Taiwan.
He stated, “The drone was flying on top of our soldiers who were standing guard, but there was no response.” If you just stood there and allowed people to come and go as they pleased, you were shirking your responsibilities.
Since the defeated Republic of China government withdrew to Taipei in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s Communists, Taiwan has governed both Kinmen and the Matsu islands, which are located further up China’s coast. Kinmen is the smaller of the two groups of islands.
The terrain under Chinese control is only a few hundred meters away from the island of Kinmen at its nearest point.
