Taiwan fires flares to warn drones flying over outlying islands

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said in local time on Saturday that it fired flares on Friday night to alert seven drones flying over the Kinmen Islands.

And yet to warn unidentified aircraft flying over their Matsu Islands.

It said troops were on high alert in both areas, which are off the coast of mainland China.

The move comes after Beijing launched large-scale missile-firing military exercises this week in response to a visit to Taiwan by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Pelosi met with Japan’s Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, on Friday morning, with his focus on the Taiwan Strait.

China had already fired missiles into the waters around Taiwan – a democratic island of 24 million that the Chinese Communist Party considers part of its territory – most notably during the Taiwan Strait Crisis in the 1990s.

But missiles flying over the island marked a significant escalation, with US officials warning there could be more to come.

“We anticipated that China could take measures like this — in fact, I described them in quite some detail the other day,” John Kirby, a spokesman for the US National Security Council, told reporters at the White House on Thursday. . “We also expect these actions to continue in the coming days.”

A US aircraft carrier will remain in the area around Taiwan for a few more days to “monitor the situation,” Kirby added.

(*With information from CNN)