Lai's trip to the Kinmen islands, a few kilometres from the Chinese mainland, follows a fortnight of intense military activity in the Taiwan Strait.

Lai, who took power in May and has been more outspoken than his predecessor in defending Taiwan's sovereignty, attended a sombre ceremony for the Battle of Guningtou and shook hands with veterans.

China's Communist Party has never ruled democratic Taiwan, but Beijing claims the island as part of its territory and has said it will never renounce the use of force to bring it under its control.

The dispute between Beijing and Taipei dates back to a civil war between Mao Zedong's communist fighters and Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist forces, which fled to Taiwan in 1949 following their defeat.

The nationalists scored a key victory over the communists in the Battle of Guningtou on the Kinmen islands, which Taiwan still controls along with the Matsu islands next to China.

China has ramped up military and political pressure on Taiwan in recent years as it seeks to browbeat Taipei into accepting its claims of sovereignty over the islands.

Beijing's large-scale war games around Taiwan on October 14 were followed by live-fire drills near the island on Tuesday, and the transiting of a Chinese aircraft carrier group through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday.

Taiwanese troops conducted live-fire drills on Penghu island in the waterway on Thursday, days after a US and a Canadian warship sailed through the narrow passage.