The military of Taiwan now faces a fresh danger from Chinese civilian drone trolls. They are using drones to fly over Kinmen, an island that is close by and under Taiwanese control.
The 15-second video is one of several that have lately surfaced on the Chinese social media platform Weibo and depict what seem to be drones of the civilian-grade mocking Taiwan’s military.
Later, the island’s military revealed that these unknown threats are, in fact, Chinese civilian drones. In-depth drone footage of military facilities and troops on Taiwan’s remote Kinmen islands is shown in the movies. Reports state that drone invasions occur amid rising tensions following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s August visit to Taiwan, a self-governing democracy with a population of almost 24 million.
That trip infuriated China’s ruling Communist Party, which, despite never having had control over Taiwan, regards the island as being a part of its territory. In response, China’s Communist Party launched unprecedented military exercises around the island, sent warplanes across the Taiwan Strait, and fired missiles over the main island.
The drone incursions, according to Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, represent the most recent increase in this pressure and a new front in China’s “grey-zone” military methods used to terrorise the island. Taiwan first fired down a drone on September 1 after warning it would use its right to self-defense.
The videos, which feature a variety of emojis and soundtracks that range from dance music to ballads, appear to be intended to illustrate how unprepared Taiwan’s military is.
Four Taiwanese troops are shown in one video realising they are being monitored by a drone flying over their guard station.
Unprepared, they retaliate by hurling stones at the intrusive drone, which zooms in so closely that you can see individual soldiers’ faces.
On Chinese social media, video footage of these strange interactions has gone viral and is generating hundreds of comments that make fun of Taiwan’s military. As per media reports, the videos appear to reveal a startling weakness: Chinese drones have the capacity to picture restricted military facilities in Taiwan at any time.
According to analysts, the video that is being shown online and that shows military installations and people in great detail for everyone to see is at best humiliating for Taiwan and at worst downright hazardous.
Beijing has dismissed the drone invasions as “no big issue” in the meanwhile.
