TAIPEI (Reuters) -- Taiwan's defense ministry said on Thursday that Chinese warplanes and warships had carried out the first "combat patrol" of the new year, after Taiwan President Lai Ching-te again expressed willingness to talk to Beijing.
China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, sends its military into the skies and waters near the island on an almost daily basis, and holds what Taiwan calls "joint combat readiness patrols" several times a month.
