Taiwan holds drills amid China tensions
F-16 and domestically made Ching-kuo fighter jets launched strikes and tanks raced across inland scrub, firing shells to destroy targets on the beach. About 8,000 personnel took part in drills, held on a coastal strip near Taichung in central Taiwan.
The drills, dubbed "Han Kuang," are Taiwan's main annual exercises. This year's come as China has stepped up its military activity around the island, including flying fighters and bombers close to what Beijing calls its "sacred territory".
Tsai, who won re-election by a landslide in January, pledging to stand up to China, has made military modernisation a priority. Taiwan unveiled its largest defence spending increase in more than a decade last year.
