Taiwanese paratrooper training

Colonel Chen Kuan-yu, commander of the army's Airborne Training Centre, said the military's main concern was defence, but that also maintaining airborne capabilities remained important as a means of infiltrating war zones in the event of an armed conflict.

The paratroopers' training comes at a time of tension between China and Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and says it should come under its control.

Between Monday and Tuesday, China sent 10 military aircraft and seven planes near Taiwan, according to Taiwan's defence ministry. Four of the planes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, which forms an unofficial border between the two sides.