The air force released footage showing an F-16 fighter jet firing the US-made Harpoon and destroying a target ship to reporters on a publicity tour of the eastern Hualien airbase. The air force did not say when the test firing took place.

Lieutenant Colonel Lin Keng-sheng also said his unit had been armed with advanced US air-to-air AIM-120 missiles.

"Now the 17th Squadron is armed with the capability," said Lin, who completed a training programme in the United States on the operation of the missiles.

Taiwan bought 120 AIM-120s from the United States in 2000 but they were only delivered last year after China acquired Russian-made air-to-air AA-12 missiles.

Washington had delayed delivery to avoid criticism that it was fuelling an arms race in the Taiwan Strait and only delivered the missiles after Beijing acquired the equivalent AA-12.

The US-built AIM-120 missile, which has a range of 50 kilometres (31 miles) and is equipped with advanced guidance systems, would be used to arm part of Taiwan's 150 F-16 fighter jet fleet.

Also on Tuesday, Taiwan's armed forces staged a drill simulating an invasion by China.

The scenario of the maneuver, the second rehearsal for a major exercise to be held on August 25, was that Taiwan troops had failed to hold off an amphibious landing by Chinese forces.

As Taiwan troops tried to stop simulated Chinese forces from pushing further inland, a fleet of US-made Super Cobra and OH-58D Kiowa Warrior scout gunships fired laser-guided Hellfire missiles while howitzers and tanks fired on targets.

Taiwanese military also mobilized a home-grown pilotless reconnaissance aircraft to collect information.

China, which has some 600 ballistic missiles aimed at the island, has itself been staging large-scale military exercises on Dongshan island, 150 nautical miles west of Taiwan, as part of its stepped up preparedness for any conflict with the island.

Since pro-independence President Chen Shui-bian was re-elected in March, Beijing has stressed its long-standing vow to take Taiwan by force should the island try to declare formal independence.

Taiwan and China split in 1949 at the end of a civil war.

WAR.WIRE