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China Implies Trump Could ‘Discard’ Taiwan

Taiwan flags adorn soldiers' graves during a memorial ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Guningtou, on Kinmen island, Taiwan October 25, 2024. (Reuters)
Taiwan flags adorn soldiers' graves during a memorial ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Guningtou, on Kinmen island, Taiwan October 25, 2024. (Reuters)
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China Implies Trump Could ‘Discard’ Taiwan

Taiwan flags adorn soldiers' graves during a memorial ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Guningtou, on Kinmen island, Taiwan October 25, 2024. (Reuters)
Taiwan flags adorn soldiers' graves during a memorial ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Guningtou, on Kinmen island, Taiwan October 25, 2024. (Reuters)

China's government on Wednesday implied that if Donald Trump wins the US presidential election he could "discard" Taiwan given the country's policy has always been "America first".

Trump, the Republican candidate who is neck and neck in the polls with Vice President Kamala Harris, has made several comments on the campaign trail saying Chinese-claimed Taiwan should pay to be protected and accusing the island of stealing American semiconductor business.

Asked about Trump's remarks earlier this month where said he would impose additional, massive tariffs on China if China were to "go into Taiwan" and remarks on Taiwan having to pay for protection, a spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office said Taiwan's people had a clear understanding of US policy.

"Whether the United States is trying to protect or harm Taiwan, I believe most of our Taiwan compatriots have already made a rational judgement and know very clearly that what the United States pursues is always America first," Zhu Fenglian told a regular news briefing, referring to a common expression Trump uses about prioritizing US interests.

Taiwan's people know that "Taiwan at any time may turn from a pawn to a discarded child", she added, without directly using Trump's name.

The United States is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself even in the absence of formal diplomatic ties between Washington and Taipei.

Trump, in a weekend interview on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast, repeated his claims about Taiwan "stealing" US chip business and needing to pay to be protected.

Taiwan Economy Minister Kuo Jyh-huei told reporters in Taipei on Wednesday he would not be commenting given the US election campaign was ongoing.

"I wish the United States well for a successful democratic election," he added.

Taiwan received strong backing from Trump's 2017-2021 administration, including arms sales, which have continued under the government of President Joe Biden.

Taiwan's democratically elected government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying only the island's people can decide their future.

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Ukrainian Troops Have Engaged with North Korean Units for 1st Time in Russia, Official Says

The site of a Russian glide bomb strike on a residential area in Kharkiv, Ukraine, 04 November 2024, amid the Russian invasion. (EPA)
The site of a Russian glide bomb strike on a residential area in Kharkiv, Ukraine, 04 November 2024, amid the Russian invasion. (EPA)
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Ukrainian Troops Have Engaged with North Korean Units for 1st Time in Russia, Official Says

The site of a Russian glide bomb strike on a residential area in Kharkiv, Ukraine, 04 November 2024, amid the Russian invasion. (EPA)
The site of a Russian glide bomb strike on a residential area in Kharkiv, Ukraine, 04 November 2024, amid the Russian invasion. (EPA)

Ukrainian troops have for the first time engaged with North Korean units that were recently deployed to help Russia in the war with its neighbor, Ukraine's defense minister said Tuesday.

Another Kyiv official said Ukraine's army fired artillery at North Korean soldiers in Russia's Kursk border region.

The comments were the first official reports that Ukrainian and North Korean forces have engaged in combat, following a deployment that has given the war a new complexion as it approaches its 1,000-day milestone.

Neither claim could be independently confirmed.

The Ukrainian and North Korean troops engaged in “small-scale” fighting that amounted to the start of Pyongyang’s direct involvement in Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov told South Korea’s public broadcaster KBS in an interview.

North Korean soldiers are mixed with Russian troops and are misidentified on their uniforms, Umerov was quoted as saying by KBS. That makes it hard to say whether there were any North Korean casualties, he said.

Umerov reportedly said he expects that five North Korean units, each consisting of about 3,000 soldiers, will be deployed to the Kursk area.

Meanwhile, Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the counter-disinformation branch of Ukraine’s Security Council, said “the first North Korean troops have already been shelled, in the Kursk region.”

He provided no further details.

Western governments had expected that the North Korean soldiers would be sent to Russia’s Kursk border region, where a three-month-old incursion by the Ukrainian army is the first occupation of Russian territory since World War II and has embarrassed the Kremlin.

US, South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence assessments say up to 12,000 North Korean combat troops are being sent by Pyongyang to the war under a pact with Moscow.

The Pentagon said Monday that at least 10,000 North Korean soldiers were in Russia near Ukraine’s border.

More troops from North Korea’s 1.3-million-strong army may be slated for deployment in Russia, according to an analysis published Tuesday by the European Council on Foreign Relations, an international think tank.

The ramifications extend far beyond Europe, it said.

“Despite integration challenges — including communication barriers and differing military doctrines — the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia represents a significant shift in European and Asian security relations,” the analysis said. “For the first time in generations, troops from East Asia are actively engaging in a European conflict.”

The North Korean troops, whose fighting quality and battle experience is unknown, are adding to Ukraine’s worsening situation on the battlefield.

Ukrainian defenses, especially in the eastern Donetsk region, are buckling under the strain of Russia’s costly but relentless monthslong onslaught.

Russian advances have recently accelerated, with battlefield gains of up to 9 kilometers (more than 5 miles) in some parts of Donetsk, the UK Defense Ministry said Tuesday on the social platform X.

It said Russia has superior troop numbers, and despite heavy casualties the Kremlin’s recruitment drive is providing enough new troops to keep up the pressure.

Russia has held the battlefield initiative in Ukraine for the past year. Ukrainian officials have long complained that Western military support takes too long to arrive in the country.

In early October, Russian forces drove Ukrainian troops out of Vuhledar, a town perched atop a tactically significant hill in eastern Ukraine.

It was part of a key belt of Ukrainian defenses in the east. Russia’s next targets likely are the key logistics hub of Pokrovsk and the strategically important city of Chasiv Yar.

In the meantime, Russia has kept up its long-range aerial attacks on civilian areas of Ukraine, authorities say.

A Tuesday morning attack on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia killed six people and injured 23 others, regional Gov. Ivan Fedorov said.

The head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andrii Yermak, said the Russian attacks “must be stopped with strong action.”

“A stronger position by (Ukraine’s Western) allies is needed,” he wrote on Telegram.