Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said on Thursday that its armed forces shot down a civilian drone of unknown origin after it violated airspace over the Kinmen Islands, near the Chinese cities of Xiamen and Guangzhou.

A press release issued by the ministry added that it will continue to investigate the incident and monitor the airspace to ensure its safety.

The drone entered Taiwanese airspace near an islet off the coast of China on Thursday after the Taipei government promised tough new measures to combat a rise in such incursions.

Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its territory over the strong objections of the Taipei government, has been conducting military exercises across the island since early last month in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei.

The Taiwanese government has vowed not to provoke or escalate tensions, but it has recently been particularly outraged by repeated incidents of Chinese drones flying over Taiwan-controlled islands off China’s coast.

The Kinmen Defense Command (a group of islands controlled by Taiwan opposite the Chinese cities of Xiamen and Guangzhou) said in a statement released by Taiwan’s defense ministry that the drone entered restricted airspace over Lion Island shortly after noon local time (7 am Greek time).

Troops on the islet tried to warn the plane to leave but to no avail, so they shot it down and the wreckage landed in the sea, he added.

Taiwan fired warning shots at a drone for the first time on Tuesday, shortly after President Tsai Ing-wen ordered the military to take “strong countermeasures” against so-called Chinese provocations.

Source: Reuters, APE-MPE.