TAIPEI - A new type of Chinese combat drone that state media says can carry a heavy weapons payload has flown around Taiwan, the island’s Defence Ministry said on Friday, in the latest uptick in military tensions.

China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has increased military pressure on the island over the past three years as it tries to force Taipei to accept Beijing’s sovereignty claims.

In April, China staged war games around Taiwan after the island’s President Tsai Ing-wen met US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles.

Taiwan’s Defence Ministry, in its daily update of Chinese military activities from the previous 24 hours, said 19 military aircraft had entered the island’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ).

One of those aircraft was a TB-001 drone, which flew around Taiwan. It first crossed the Bashi Channel that separates Taiwan from the Philippines, then up the east of Taiwan before crossing back towards the Chinese coast, according to a map provided by the ministry.

Military researcher Chieh Chung at Taiwan’s National Policy Foundation said that during a war, China was likely to send the TB-001 to spot targets on the island’s east coast, where Taiwan would shelter reserve forces, as bases there do not face China.

“It will allow the communists’ military’s naval and air forces in the Western Pacific, including air force strike groups or carrier battle groups, to launch attacks” on the east coast, he said.

He said it was not the first time a Chinese drone has flown around Taiwan, but was most likely the first time it did so entirely within Taiwan’s air defence zone.

Chinese state media has referred to the TB-001 as the “twin-tailed scorpion” and has shown pictures of it with missiles under its wings, saying it is capable of high-altitude, long-range missions. The TB-001 is one of the largest drones in China’s arsenal and has a flight range of 6,000km.

China’s air force has flown what it calls “island encirclement” missions with the nuclear-capable H-6 bomber.

China deployed the drone during drills that ended on April 10 and involved simulating targeted strikes and a blockade of Taiwan. No shots were fired and Chinese aircraft have not flown in Taiwan’s airspace in this latest round of military manoeuvres.

The ADIZ is a broader area that Taiwan monitors and patrols to give its forces more time to respond to threats.

Since 2022, Chinese military aircraft have regularly crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, which normally serves as an unofficial barrier between the two sides, though China says it does not recognise this.

Taiwan’s government rejects China’s sovereignty claims and says only the island’s people can decide their future. REUTERS