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Taiwan’s military shoots down unidentified drone over Kinmen islands

It is reported that the Chinese army has conducted a series of drills along China’s coast since early August

HONG KONG/XIANGGANG/, September 1. /TASS/. Taiwan’s armed forces shot down an unidentified civilian drone over the Taipei-controlled Kinmen archipelago in the Taiwan Strait, the island’s Central News Agency reported on Thursday.

The incident occurred at about the midafternoon local time (07:00 a.m. Moscow time) on Thursday near Shiyu islet, the news agency said.

Over the past two days, the Taiwanese military has repeatedly fired live rounds to chase away, as it claimed, Chinese drones that flew over restricted areas around the Kinmen archipelago. Before that, the Taiwanese troops fired only warning flares. Taiwanese Administration Head Tsai Ing-wen has recently handed down an order to bolster airspace defense measures, the local media reported.

The Kinmen archipelago is located in the Taiwan Strait, 187 km from Taiwan and just 10 km from the city of Xiamen (the province of Fujian in mainland China). The archipelago is controlled by the Taiwanese armed forces and comprises about 20 islets with a total area of about 153 sq. km.

The Chinese army has conducted a series of drills along China’s coast since early August amid the growth of tension in the Taiwan Strait triggered by a visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei on August 2-3. The Chinese troops also held large-scale military maneuvers with missile firings in six maritime areas around Taiwan. China also kicked off a series of drills in various maritime areas in the South China, Yellow and South China Seas in response to a visit by a delegation of US legislators to Taiwan on August 14-15.

Taiwan has been governed by its local administration since 1949 when the Kuomintang’s remaining forces headed by Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) were defeated in the Chinese Civil War and took refuge on the island. Taiwan has preserved the flag and several other symbols of the Republic of China that had existed before the Communists took over the mainland. According to China’s official position supported by most countries, including Russia, the Island of Taiwan is one of China’s provinces.

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