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.
Taiwan holds live-fire drills on island in sensitive waters
Taipei (AFP) Oct 24, 2024 -
Taiwanese troops on Thursday conducted live-fire exercises on an outlying island in the Taiwan Strait, a day after a Chinese aircraft carrier group sailed through the sensitive waterway.
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".
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