China's drone market has seen explosive expansion, with a compound annual growth rate of more than 100 percent. Sales of commercial-quality drones in China are expected to hit 950,000 units by 2019.

But the debate about regulation of the rapidly-increasing number of civilian drones has been re-ignited by recent reports of incursions into restricted airspace.

The latest incident happened during the past week at southwest China's Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport. 

On Friday alone, the airport received four reports of civilian drones, forcing more than 50 flights to land at alternative airports and causing major inconvenience for passengers. 

A number of other airports across China have also had to deal with their own drone incidents in recent months. 

At Kunming's Changshui International Airport in February, several drones reportedly flew around the airport area, one of them as close as 50 meters from a plane in flight. 

Police said they are investigating two of the more serious cases and two people have been detained as part of the inquiry.

China does already have regulations which prohibit drone flights in restricted areas. 

“Flying model airplanes and unmanned aerial vehicles is banned in an area of 10 kilometers from the centerline of the runways on both sides, and 20 kilometers from the end of the runways at civil airports,” Yan Run from Sichuan provincial public security bureau said.

But with the rapid growth in the use of civilian drones, enforcement agencies are having a hard time catching up.