Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen admitted in an interview with CNN that American troops were in the country, as tensions with China remain high.

A small number of US forces are in Taiwan to train with Taiwanese soldiers, President Tsai Ing-wen said in an interview with CNN, confirming the presence of US troops on the self-governing island that China considers its own.

Tensions between Taiwan and China, which has not ruled out taking the island by force, have escalated in recent weeks as Beijing raises military and political pressure.

"We have a wide range of cooperation with the US aiming at increasing our defense capability," Tsai told CNN in the interview aired on Thursday.

Asked how many US service members are deployed in Taiwan, she said only that it was "not as many as people thought."

The confirmation comes as China is sharply increasing military pressure on Taiwan, including repeated missions by Chinese warplanes in Taiwan's air defense identification zone.