Hong Kong ( CNN ) -- Fighter jets and other combat aircraft used Taiwan 's main highway as a makeshift airstrip Tuesday as part of a dawn drill that simulated an attack from China . Taiwan 's Central News Agency ( CNA ) said the aircraft practiced emergency take-offs and landings near the city of Chiayi , on a section of the main north-south route that runs along the island 's west coast . Ground crews practiced refueling and re-loading ammunition , CNA said . The drill is part of Taiwan 's annual `` Han Kuang '' exercises that last five days and test the military 's combat readiness in the event of an attack from China , said J. Michael Cole , a correspondent for IHS Jane 's Defense Weekly and a fellow of the China Policy Institute at the University of Nottingham in the UK . `` Taiwan is a small place with a limited number of air bases , '' he told CNN . `` China has 1,500 to 1,600 short and mid-range missiles targeted at Taiwan and it 's understood that the first phase of a missile attack would target these air bases so they would have to find an alternative . '' The aircraft involved included an F-16 A/B jet fighter , a Mirage 2000-5 and an Indigenous Defensive Fighter , as well as an E-2K airborne early warning aircraft , a CH-47 Chinook helicopter , an OH-58D reconnaissance helicopter and two AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters , CNA reported . The military exercises also involve live-fire maritime drills on Taiwan 's east coast and near the island of Penghu in the Taiwan Strait . Breakaway province . Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province and has never ruled out the use of force to achieve reunification . Relations between the two sides have improved since the Kuomintang party came to power in Taiwan 's 2008 election . In February , Taiwan and China held their highest level talks for more than six decades -- the first government-to-government contact since the pair 's acrimonious split in 1949 amid civil war . Cole said that while relations have improved in some respects , with more exchanges in terms of tourism , investment and education , the underlying cause of the conflict has yet to be resolved . `` People here see themselves as Taiwanese but at some point Beijing will want them to move nearer ( to reunification ) and the military option remains on the table . In my view , it 's a distant probability but it remains an option . '' Small plane makes forced landing on Bronx highway .
Fighter jets and other combat aircraft used Taiwan 's main highway as a makeshift airstrip . Drill part of annual military exercises that simulate an attack by China . Comment: It has n't ruled out use of force to achieve reunification .