Taiwanese soldiers stationed on islands near China's coast fired rounds at Chinese commercial drones on Tuesday, the first time the military has responded more aggressively to recent drone incursions.

To avoid further escalation of cross-strait tensions, the Taiwanese military had previously fired warning flares in response to such incursions. It abstained from more severe reactions, such as shooting down the drones.

Tuesday, at approximately 4:23 p.m., soldiers stationed on three Kinmen County islets - Dadan, Erdan, and Shi Islet - each detected a Chinese drone flying in restricted airspace near their respective outposts.

Per its four-step rules of engagement for drone encounters — "firing warning flares, reporting the incursion, expelling the drone and ultimately shooting it down" — the command stated that soldiers shot warning flares near these drones before shooting them down.

As the drones continued to hover, live rounds were fired to evict them; they flew to Xiamen, China, about 5 kilometers distant, according to the command.

At 5:59 p.m., a similar incident occurred again on Erdan islet. The leadership stated that a single Chinese drone returned to Xiamen one minute after troops fired shots at it.

However, the directive did not specify the number of bullets fired or the types of weapons utilized.

The information of Taiwanese forces firing on Chinese drones was public hours after President Tsai Ing-wen directed the Armed Forces to take "strong countermeasures" to preserve Taiwan's airspace.

The military of Taiwan has been heavily criticized for its apparent lack of a solid response to Chinese drone incursions in Taiwan-controlled offshore islands' airspace.

Taiwan's military has been embarrassed by videos captured by civilian-operated drones flying near and photographing military lookout stations, which were recently leaked by Chinese netizens.

In response to the criticism, Taiwan's Army disclosed for the first time on Monday its four-step rules of engagement for drone engagements.

According to the Ministry of National Defense, Kinmen and Lienchiang, two Taiwanese offshore counties lying close to China's coast, will be equipped with a drone defense system by the end of next year.