Taiwan will begin deploying drone defence systems on its offshore islands after footage emerged of Taiwanese soldiers throwing stones at a Chinese drone that buzzed a guard post.
Two bewildered-looking soldiers gaze up, as a drone appears over their position, seemingly unexpectedly. The drone is clearly watching them, watching it, and it could potentially be carrying weapons, too. Moments later, the troops appear to hurl rocks at the drone in an effort to knock it out of the sky.
The photo in question, a cropped version of which is seen at the top of this story, dates from around 6:00 pm on August 16, when the mysterious drone appeared over the Lieyu Garrison Battalion on one of the islands of Kinmen, also known as Quemoy. These islands are governed by Taiwan but are located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. Clearly, the drone was equipped with some kind of optical surveillance equipment and its operator was taking a very keen interest in the military installation in these long-disputed islands.
The image of the two Republic of China Army, or ROCA, sentries, one holding a camera, the other with an assault rifle at his side, soon began to circulate on Chinese social media. Now, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense has confirmed that it is authentic.
There is also a video that appears to show the exact same military facility, with two soldiers now seen throwing rocks or other objects at the drone, once again from the unmanned aerial vehicle’s perspective. It suggests that the soldiers at the garrison employed very unsophisticated means in an effort to either bring the drone down or ward it off.
https://youtu.be/T02VLqZCdFc
As to the operator of the drone, there’s also the possibility of some kind of civilian drone flying on behalf of the Chinese military or intelligence agencies, which would be in keeping with Beijing’s increasing use of ‘gray zone tactics’ – pushing the limits of normal peacetime operations toward the threshold of armed conflict, often using unconventional and non-military means.