After China’s August drills, it expanded its “grey zone” and hybrid activities against Taiwan, especially with the use of drones that have flown both near Taiwan-controlled islands off China’s coast and into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone, Chen said.
Taiwan says China’s “grey-zone” warfare campaign involves irregular tactics to exhaust a foe without resorting to open combat, like frequently flying into Taiwan’s air defence zone and forcing Taiwan’s air force to scramble.
China has released images of Taiwan’s military online to “slander” it and attack the government, he said, referring to video that circulated on Chinese social media in August of Taiwanese soldiers on offshore islands taken by drones.
These activities “highlight that the Chinese communists have increased their cognitive warfare, grey zone activities and other hybrid methods, which have constituted a new form of threat to national security”, Chen added.