TAIPEI: Taiwanese soldiers on a tiny islet just off China鈥檚 mainland shot down an 鈥渦nidentified civilian drone鈥� on Thursday after it entered a restricted zone, Taipei鈥檚 military said.

It is the first time Taiwanese forces have downed a drone and comes at a time when tensions between Beijing and Taipei are at their highest in decades.

Taiwan鈥檚 defense ministry said a small civilian drone entered a 鈥渞estricted zone鈥� above Shiyu Islet, a small rock that lies between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan鈥檚 Kinmen islands.

鈥淭he stationed troops followed procedures to warn off the drone but to no avail. The drone was shot down in defensive fire,鈥� the defense ministry said.

Kinmen lies just a few miles off China鈥檚 coastline and Taiwan has reported a spate of incidents in the last two weeks where small drones have hovered over soldier outposts.

Videos have been circulated on both Taiwanese and Chinese social media, with one showing Taiwanese soldiers hurling rocks at a drone to drive it off.

Taiwan鈥檚 military and President Tsai Ing-wen warned this week that they might resort to live fire if the drones ignore warnings to leave.

On Monday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the incursions were not 鈥渁nything worth making a fuss about鈥� as the drones were 鈥渇lying around Chinese territory.鈥�

Taiwan lives under constant threat of invasion by China, which claims the self-ruled democratic island as part of its territory to be seized one day 鈥� by force if necessary.

The drone incursions over Kinmen increased as Beijing embarked on a show of force in retaliation for US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi鈥檚 visit to Taiwan last month.

For a week after Pelosi鈥檚 visit, China sent warships, missiles and fighter jets into the waters and skies around Taiwan, its largest and most aggressive exercises since the mid-1990s.

It is not clear who is flying the drones.

Given Kinmen lies so close to the Chinese mainland, a civilian could feasibly fly a commercial drone that distance.

However, China has also stepped up so-called 鈥済reyzone鈥� tactics against Taiwan in recent years to pressure the island.

鈥淕reyzone鈥� is a term used by military analysts to describe aggressive actions by a state that stop short of open warfare and can use civilians.

Civilian Chinese fishing and sand dredging vessels, for example, have increasingly entered waters around Taiwanese outlying islands, including Kinmen.

China has also ramped up incursions by warplanes into Taiwan鈥檚 air defense identification zone as a way to test defenses and wear out the island鈥檚 own fleet of aging fighter jets.