Taiwan says anti-drone measures will be top priority in defence against China

Taipei: Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence issued a report saying it is training soldiers to shoot down drones and actively looking to procure new anti-drone weapons systems, which comes in response to Chinese drone incursions.

The report released Thursday said Taiwan has developed a strategy to deal with the Chinese drone incursions by identifying and shooting them down as they approach.

Taiwan’s outlying islands, which are closer to China than the main island of Taiwan, often face Chinese drones. China frequently claims Taiwan as its own, while in practice it is self-ruled.

Defence ministry spokesperson Major General Sun Li-fang said Taiwan is continuing efforts to identify and use effective anti-drone systems in response to China.

“Basically the drone development and anti-drone developments are very fast, and based on today’s situation, there’s different progress every day,” he said. “This is one of our key points in our military preparedness efforts.”

The report also summarises military exercises to surround the island and the growing use of grey-zone tactics by China, which are assaults stopping short of a direct armed attack. Drones have been added as a robust part of China’s grey-zone tactics.

In recent years, China has deployed its Coast Guard on patrol exercises and boarded Taiwanese fishing ships in the waters surrounding Taiwan, in addition to deploying the People’s Liberation Army on regular, large-scale exercises.

In April, China launched a surprise military exercise around Taiwan and then announced a formal military exercises a

day later.agencies