Taiwan reports first Chinese ‘combat patrol’ of the New Year

Taiwan reports first Chinese ‘combat patrol’ of the New Year

Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Thursday that Chinese warplanes and warships had carried out the first “combat patrol” around the island 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…