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Taiwanese tanks and soldiers have fired at simulated Chinese forces in an anti-invasion drill on the island's coast.

The live-fire drill on Thursday at a beach in southern Taiwan is part of an ongoing annual exercise designed to showcase the military's capabilities and resolve to repel an attack from across the Taiwan Strait.

China claims the self-governing island as its territory. Taiwan split from China amid a civil war in 1949.

The simulated response to a Chinese landing included assault helicopters, fighter jets and missiles launched at targets in the sea.

The Defense Ministry said the joint army-navy-air force operation tested the island's combat readiness in the face of the Chinese military threat.