The day and night-time drills were held on Penghu island, in the narrow passage separating Taiwan and China, and were part of a regular exercise held over several days, the defence ministry said.

As part of the drills, soldiers practised preparing for combat in the event of "Chinese air and sea infiltration" of the island, the ministry said.

Flares lit up the night sky as troops using mortars, machine guns and grenade launchers unleashed a barrage of fire and provided cover for M60A3 tanks and CM-21 armoured vehicles during one of the exercises.

"This night-time exercise mainly aimed to familiarise personnel with the operation of night vision equipment and to help them adapt to the night combat environment," Lieutenant commander Chen Jyun-Yan told reporters.

"The hypothetical scenario for this exercise was enemy forces take advantage of poor night-time visibility to attempt a landing."

China considers Taiwan as part of its own territory and in recent years has ramped up military activity to pressure Taipei into accepting its claims.

Chinese navy ships accompanied the Liaoning aircraft carrier on Wednesday as it transited the strait, which Beijing said was "perfectly normal".

That followed China's live-fire drills near Taiwan on Tuesday and a large-scale military exercise around the island last week when Beijing deployed fighter jets, warships and coast guard vessels.

Those exercises were in response to Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te's National Day speech on October 10 in which he vowed to "resist annexation", and insisted that Beijing and Taipei were not subordinate to each other.

Lai, who took office in May, has used stronger language than his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen in defending Taiwan's sovereignty, angering China's leaders in Beijing, who call him a "separatist".