SUAO, Taiwan -- Swooping fighter jets knocked flares out of the air and cannons bombarded the calm blue Pacific Ocean with shells Thursday during Taiwan's biggest public military display of the year.

Watching from a shaded VIP stand, President Chen Shui-bian and other senior leaders applauded as planes, tanks and ships defended Taiwan's northeastern coast from imaginary invading Chinese forces.

The president took the occasion to emphasize Taiwan's role in deterring China's military expansion.

"Taiwan lies at the center of the western Pacific, and it is the lock that controls Chinese military expansion to the east," Chen said.

The display was an annual propaganda performance covered live on Taiwanese cable TV news aimed at showing the public -- and Taiwan's biggest rival, China -- that the island can defend itself.

For the past five decades, Taiwan has resisted the Beijing government's rule. When the communists won a civil war and took over the mainland in 1949, China's former Nationalist Party government retreated to Taiwan -- 100 miles off the mainland's southeastern coast. Chinese leaders still hope to unify the two sides. They've given Taiwan a choice: Unify eventually or face a devastating war.

Taiwan scrapped a missile test out of fear that China might learn too much about the island's modern missiles.

"Out of security considerations, we took the decision on the spot not to fire the MICA missiles," said sixth army commander Hu Chen-pu.

Thursday's show was filled with U.S. hardware. F-16 jets dropped anti-ship bombs. Cobra attack helicopters fired Hellfire missiles. And Perry-class frigates launched missiles that left an arching trail of white smoke.

Also on display were French-made Lafayette frigates and Mirage jets.

The drills ended with artillery shooting shells flying like flocks of birds over the dunes and beaches to create a wall of black smoke over the ocean, with scenic Kueishan island in the background.