Taiwan's largest-ever missile ship went into service Tuesday after a ceremony presided over by President Ma Ying-jeou as the island strives to modernize its military in response to a perceived threat from China.

Ma praised the corvette's "stealth and speed" at the ceremony involving hundreds of naval officers and said it "reflects the determination by the military to defend national security".

China's air force has carried out its first ever military drill over the western Pacific Ocean, state media said, highlighting Beijing's growing military reach.

Several aircraft from China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) on Monday flew over the ocean via the Bashi Channel, which runs between Taiwan and the Philippines, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Taiwanese protesters scuffled with police on Thursday ahead of China's launch of a controversial flight route, which they say has been allowed to go ahead despite fears over security risks.

The route over the Taiwan Strait is due to be inaugurated on Sunday, despite a backlash over security concerns.

Taiwanese rallied Wednesday to mark the first anniversary of the student-led "Sunflower Movement", which saw the occupation of parliament for more than three weeks in protest at a trade pact with China.

Hundreds of protesters, mostly students, gathered outside parliament for the anniversary, demanding that the China-friendly Kuomintang government refrain from signing any agreements with Beijing before next year's presidential election.

Thousands of people took to the streets in Taiwan on Saturday to call for the island to scrap its use of nuclear energy and to voice opposition to controversial plans to ship nuclear waste abroad, organizers said.

Protesters in central Taipei waved placards and dressed in T-shirts emblazoned with slogans including "Goodbye to nuclear energy" and "We don't need nuclear power", just days after Japan marked the fourth anniversary of an undersea earthquake which triggered a massive tsunami and nuclear disaster.

A Taiwanese ship carrying 49 crew has vanished in the remote South Atlantic Ocean without any sign of a mayday call but shortly after its skipper reported it was taking on water, authorities said Sunday.

The "Hsiang Fu Chun", a 700-tonne squid fishing vessel, lost contact with its owners "soon" after reporting that water was leaking on to the deck at around 3:00 am on February 26, officials said.

A former college student was sentenced to death in Taiwan Friday for killing four people and wounding more than 20 others in a subway stabbing spree that shocked the island last year.

Cheng Chieh, 22, will face a firing squad after he was convicted on four counts of murder and 22 counts of attempted murder for the May 21 attack in the capital Taipei, the first fatal attack on the city's subway system since it began operating in 1996.

Taiwan on Monday named a new minister for China affairs in an attempt to reboot cross-strait relations after a row over espionage and growing anxiety about Beijing's influence on the island.

Deputy defense minister Andrew Hsia succeeded Wang Yu-chi as the chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, which handles relations between Taipei and Beijing, after Wang resigned last week.

The leader of Taiwan's Beijing-skeptic main opposition party, Tsai Ing-wen, on Sunday lodged her bid to stand in a 2016 presidential vote she is tipped to win after a landslide victory in November.

Tsai called for Taiwan to "consolidate its sovereignty" as she formally registered to become the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) candidate for next year's vote, for which she is likely to stand uncontested.

Taiwanese rescuers on Thursday recovered the remains of the last missing passenger in last week's TransAsia plane crash, bringing the death toll to 43 in the airline's second fatal accident in seven months.

The body of a Chinese national identified as Chen Rentai was located still attached to his seat about three kilometers from the site where the plane plunged into a river in Taipei, said the national fire agency.