Taiwan: Taiwan displayed its most advanced fighter jet the missile-equipped F-16V on Wednesday. Taiwan demonstrated missile-equipped F-16V in the wake of China’s unprecedented military drills around the island, in a rare nighttime.

According to Taiwan’s air force, Six F-16Vs later took off for night reconnaissance and training missions, including two armed with missiles. Taipei has carried out its own drills to simulate defence against invasion by China and on Wednesday air force personnel loaded an F-16V fighter with a US made anti-ship missile in a combat readiness exercise at an airbase in Eastern Hualien county.

We have stayed vigilant while establishing the concept of battlefields everywhere and training anytime to ensure national security, to face of the threat from Chinese communist forces’ recent military exercises, it said in a statement. Taiwan lives under constant threat of an invasion by China, which claims the democratically-ruled island as part of its territory to be seized one day, by force if necessary.

In November, Taipei deployed its first squadron of US made F-16Vs an upgraded and much more sophisticated version of its other F-16 fighters, which date back to the 1990s. The F-16V deal was approved by the administration of then US President Donald Trump as he feuded with China on a host of issues, but his successor Joe Biden has maintained similar support for Taipei.