Taiwan’s military fired warning shots at a Chinese drone as it buzzed a small Taiwanese island on Aug. 30. The incident came shortly after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said that she ordered “strong countermeasures” against China’s ongoing military provocations.
The drone returned to China following the shots, a spokesperson for Taiwan’s military said.
The incident marks the first time that warning shots have been fired amid a period of heightened tension between China and Taiwan, according to Reuters.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which rules China as a single-party state, claims that Taiwan is a rogue province of China. Its leadership has vowed to unite the island with the mainland at any cost and has repeatedly stated that it will not renounce the use of force to do so.
