Warns Drones Near Its Island, Taiwan Fires Flare: China's Drone?

China drone illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Vitaly V. Kuzmin)

JAKARTA - Taiwan's military fired a flare on Thursday to warn a drone, which was "glaring" at a strategically located and heavily fortified island close to China's coast that may be investigating its defences, Taiwan's Ministry of Defense said.

The ministry said the drone twice "peeked" into the airspace of Dongyin Island, part of the Matsu Islands off the coast of China's Fujian Province and controlled by Taiwan since the end of China's civil war in 1949.

The ministry added that it did not rule out that the drone was investigating the island's defenses to see what reaction it generated.

Dongyin Command fired flares at drones to warn it, the ministry said, without further identifying it.

Separately, a senior official familiar with security planning in the region told Reuters it was a Chinese drone, possibly one of the country's new CSC-005 drones.

There was no immediate comment from China's Ministry of Defense. Meanwhile, it is known that this is the second incident near Dongyin this year.

In February, a small Chinese civilian plane flew very close to the same island, which Taiwan described as China might try a new strategy to test its reaction.

Taiwan does not publish details of its military presence there, but the Dongyin Area Command has been at the forefront of Taiwan's defense since the 1950s.

It is the northernmost territory held by Taiwan, at the upper end of the Taiwan Strait, a choke point that at least some of China's invading forces must pass.

Military experts believe the Dongyin forces are equipped with Taiwan-made Hsiung Feng II anti-ship missiles as well as Sky Bow II surface-to-air missiles.

Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has complained of increased Chinese military maneuvers over the past two years or so to try and force Taipei's democratically elected government to accept Beijing's sovereignty.