(A7) Taiwan’s military fired warning shots at Chinese drones flying over its territory near the Chinese coast on Tuesday, according to media reports, underscoring continued tensions between the self-governing island and the Chinese government.

The Taiwanese military issued a statement on Wednesday saying that its forces had acted on Tuesday after the drones were discovering flying over the Kinmen group of islands.

The statement referred to the UAVs as being for “civilian use” but did not give further details. It added that the drones had flown back to the nearby city of Xiamen, China after its troops had fired warning shots at them.

In previous altercations, Taiwan had only fired warning flares, CTV News reported.

The incident followed China firing missiles into the sea near Taiwan and sending its ships and planes across the line in the Taiwan Strait demarking the separation between mainland China and self-ruled Taiwan.

The actions came after China responded aggressively to a trip to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the highest ranking US lawmaker to visit the island since then-Speaker Newt Gingrich made a similar trip in 1997.

China’s military escalation was denounced by the US and other nations in the region, including Japan and Australia.

In early August, Chinese missiles landed in an area of water that is part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

Responding to news of the drone incident, China expert and author of “The Coming Collapse of China and The Great U.S.-China Tech War” Gordon G. Chang described the current situation as grave, and predicted it could even lead to war.

“Hug the ones you love and pray China does not start a war in the next few days,” Chang tweeted. “And by the way, this would be an excellent time for the US military to move to DEFCON 2.”

The US is said to be working on approving a $1.1 billion defense package to Taiwan for defense against a Chinese invasion, including anti-ship and air-to-air missiles.