Taipei | China’s President Xi Jinping may accelerate plans to take control of Taiwan if he feels threatened by domestic economic challenges during his third term as leader, which is expected to be confirmed next month, experts warn.

Taiwan’s government warned on Wednesday it was willing to “counter-attack” if China’s military encroached on the island’s territory. The comments came after Taiwan’s forces shot for the first time at a Chinese drone the previous day, after it flew over Taiwan’s outlying islands.