Taiwan's annual military exercise, Han Kuang, begins on Wednesday as the island ramps up its defence against a possible invasion from China. Billed as the largest and longest one so far, this year's Han Kuang will last for about 10 days, about twice the duration of last year's drill.

While it is aimed at readying Taiwan's population for a possible attack, it is also meant to publicly showcase the island's defences and send a clear signal to Beijing. China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its territory and has vowed to "reunify" with it some day,

Most typhoons come ashore on the island’s sparsely populated east coast, but Danas scraped its crowded western edge. Nearly 300,000 households had no power on Monday.

Typhoon Danas lashed southern Taiwan with record winds and strong rain early on Monday, killing two people and injuring more than 630 in a rare hit to the island's densely populated west coast.