Taiwanese troops find food package ‘dropped by drone from mainland China’
- The island’s defence ministry says the package was found on Lieyu, a small island that is only 5km from the mainland city of Xiamen
- A video posted on the Chinese social media network Weibo shows a man putting together the package with a note addressed to Taiwanese troops
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The island’s defence ministry said that on Friday afternoon, soldiers found a food package wrapped in a rubbish bag on a beach on Lieyu, which is about 5km (3 miles) from the mainland city of Xiamen.
The package was suspected to have been dropped by an unidentified drone, the ministry said, without stating if it had come from the mainland.
Earlier that day, the defence ministry said it had spotted two drones near Lieyu, which were warned off after troops let off flares and flew back to Xiamen.
The Taiwanese military will take strong measures against drones that “endanger military and civilian safety by dropping objects”, the ministry added.
The package, which includes a Chinese tea egg and a pack of zha cai, a Sichuan-style pickled vegetable, was carried by a civilian drone that flew from Xiamen, according to Taiwanese media reports.
The report cited a video released by a mainland Weibo user named Quanzhou captain on Friday, which shows him wrapping a package, including the food and a letter, before attaching it to the drone.
The letter read: “Hello, Taiwan compatriots … We are sending our best, and unaffordable, zha cai and tea eggs to you, greetings to the frontline defenders” – a mocking reference to previous Taiwanese television shows saying mainland people cannot afford the two kinds of food.
It added: “People on both sides of the strait are always one family.”
How would Taiwan’s US$143 million defence system ward off Beijing drones?
Last week Taiwan said troops would fire on drones that failed to leave territory it controlled. On Wednesday troops fired on three civilian drones flying over three different locations above the Quemoy archipelago.
On Thursday a civilian drone was shot down over Shiyu, another part of the island group, after the military said it failed to heed warnings – the first time Taiwanese troops had brought down a drone.
