Some fear that U.S.-Taiwan relations would be downgraded in exchange for a stronger Chinese stance against North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. Katherine Chang, the minister for mainland affairs, tells the Washington Post that Taiwan could become a “bargaining chip” in such a case.

Currently, China views Taiwan as a breakaway province and has not ruled out force as a path to reunification. The U.S. has historically backed the “One China Policy” by refusing to diplomatically recognize Taiwan even though it has maintained an unofficial relationship involving trade.

Taiwan was not mentioned by either Trump or Xi during a joint news conference following their meeting on Thursday.

However, a number of Trump’s advisers have been known to be sympathetic to Taiwan’s concerns and grievances. In early December, Trump broke away from decades of tradition by making a congratulatory phone call to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen following her election victory. But, Trump has since said he will not engage with the Taiwanese president again without checking in with China first.

Furthermore, Trump and Xi have been enjoying an improved relationship, with Trump even saying both shared “great chemistry.” During a news conference in South Korea on Tuesday, Trump said Xi had “been trying very hard to solve the problem” with North Korea. In fact, the U.S. president has enjoyed some success where predecessors have failed on the North Korean issue. China, which is Pyongyang’s biggest trading partner, recently agreed to cut coal exports with the nation and sever ties with its banks.

When Trump was defending his call with Tsai Ing-wen, he had said that the U.S. stance on the One China Policy would depend on whether he can “make a deal” with Beijing on trade and other issues.

Still, the U.S. and Taiwan have enjoyed some good relations including a $1.42 billion weapons deal agreed on earlier this year. This is one of the reasons some diplomats feel a major shift in U.S. relations with Taiwan is unlikely.

Taipei is also looking forward to increase defense spending, establish a bi-lateral trade agreement with the U.S., and end all trade with North Korea.

But whether Taiwan can become a bargaining chip in the North Korean issue strongly depends on Xi’s decisions.

“Many have debated here in Taiwan whether President Trump will trade Taiwan in exchange for China’s position in North Korea,” said Alexander Huang, chairman of Taiwan’s Council on Strategic and Wargaming Studies. “But my hunch is that even if President Trump makes such an offer, President Xi would say no: ‘Taiwan is not in your hands. It’s in mine.’”

China and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have held their largest-ever joint maritime rescue exercise, signalling a lull in South China Sea tensions. The drill on Tuesday simulated a collision between a Chinese passenger ship and a Cambodian cargo vessel off south China’s Guangdong province. It involved about 1,000 rescuers aboard 20…

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a stern warning to Taiwan Wednesday, saying that Beijing has the will and power to thwart any attempts at independence. Addressing a twice-a-decade gathering of the Communist Party in Beijing, Xi warned that China has “the resolve, the confidence, and the ability to defeat separatist attempts for Taiwan independence in any…

All entries submitted to the U.S. Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, also known as the Green Card Lottery, between October 3 and 10 have been lost due to a technical glitch. Individuals who submitted applications during these dates are directed to reapply. “Entries submitted during October 3-10 are not valid and have been excluded from the system;…

Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen will visit three Pacific nations in the next month, the foreign ministry said Friday, as fears grow of China influencing its dwindling list of allies. It comes after Panama cut official ties with Taiwan in June, choosing instead to form diplomatic relations with China — leaving the island with only 20 nations…

Taiwan’s government roared back saying it belonged to a sovereign nation and nothing China’s leaders say could ever change that. Officials said the Republic of China, the islands former name, was an independent country with territory spanning Taiwan, a few offshore islands close to China, and even some in the South China Sea — a region with islands several nations lay claim to, but where China calls the lion’s share and builds its military.

In the eyes of Beijing, Taiwan is still a rogue province of China. And full military force has never been taken off the table as an option for reunification. Chinese-Taiwanese relations seem even more dire under the leadership of independence-leaning president Tsai Ing-wen. Even though part of her voter base was driven sharply by calls for independence, she has publicly stated she hopes to maintain peace with China.

Beijing, however, made it clear this peace could erode any moment.

Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said:  “Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, has never been a country and can never become a country.

“The mainland side resolutely opposes any form of ‘Taiwan independence’ words or action, and will never allow the historical tragedy of national separation to repeat itself. The consequences will be reaped for engaging in Taiwan independence separatist.”

The popular microblogging site Sina WeiBo recently censored searchers for the term “Hydrogen Bomb.” According to censorship-monitoring website FreeWeibo, the top 3 terms banned by Weibo in the last 24 hours are “North Korea,” “Hydrogen Bomb” and “Brics.” The watchdog site also reports that posts from independent news sites that could be deemed alarming have been removed.

After users look up these banned terms, they are presented with the following message: “According to the relevant laws, regulations and policies, the results cannot be displayed.”

The Communist nation isn’t even allowing humor. Several jokes regarding Brics and the North Korean test have been censored or removed.  

One user by the handle Zhang Hongjie sarcastically posted  “North Korea set off a 6.3 scale firecracker to applaud the start of Brics”, before it was removed. Another known online as  IAmDaGang had his comment removed for posting  “Kim the Fat had set off a blast to celebrate.”

But for some users, the situation is no laughing matter. Many citizens are speculating that tense relations between North Korea and its biggest trading and military partner China could lead to a nuclear disaster.

User Wang Zhanyang noted that tremors were felt in Changchun, which is located 269 miles from the North Korean border. “There were people running out of their houses; in such a hazardous nuclear environment, how can we feel secure about the development of the economy?” he asked.

His post was also removed.

Although the previous Administration often sent warships into the South China Sea to uphold freedom of navigation and challenge China’s claim to virtually the entire region, some analysts say this move went a step further.

Beforehand, these exercises involved a warship undergoing “innocent passage” and passing the sea without stopping – effectively recognizing territorial waters, much to the disappointment of regional allies that also lay claims to parts of the South China Sea.

In particular, the USS Dewy conducted a “man overboard” exercise, specifically to show that its passage within 12 nautical miles was not innocent passage, U.S. officials said. China says that in response, it sent two guided-missile warships warning the U.S. ship to leave the area.

Greg Poling of Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank told Reuters: “The previous two freedom-of-navigation operations only challenged China’s demand for prior notification for innocent passage through the territorial sea; this one asserted that there is no territorial sea at all.”

However, U.S. Commander Gary Ross maintained the drill was not specific to one country.

The South China Sea is a strategic waterway by which $5 trillion in ship-borne goods pass through each year. It is contested by Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines — the latter of which took the case to an international court and won. China refused to recognize the ruling. Beijing continues to build and militarize artificial islands in the region claiming it’s only building defenses legally in its own territory.

The United States’ latest drill comes ahead of a visit between U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and regional counterparts in Singapore. At the same time, the U.S. is urging — and to some degree succeeding — in pushing China to take a stronger stance against North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. The latest incursion, of course, may further complicate the matter.

But the growing, unchecked power of China in the Asia Pacific, which sees more $5 trillion worth of sea-borne trade each year, is raising concern among her neighbors—particularly a country China has for years vowed to take back by force if necessary: Taiwan.

Beijing has considered it a breakaway province since the end of the war and claims re-unification is inevitable and unification unacceptable. The U.S. even recognizes Beijing’s “One-China Policy” and has no formal diplomatic relations to Taiwan, but still sells arms to the island under the Taiwan Relations Act.

Some, however, believe Taiwan is about to need bigger guns and fighters willing to use them. And they want the U.S. to fight alongside them.

Enoch Y. Wu, a former non-commissioned officer in the Taiwanese Army special forces, and a defense advisor in a Taiwanese think-tank writes in a New York Times opinion piece: “China has become an economic powerhouse focused on building its military, investing in thousands of ballistic and cruise missiles that can damage Taiwan’s ports and runways many times over, neutralizing our navy and air force. These missiles have the range and accuracy to cripple American bases on Okinawa and Guam. This capacity — combined with a buildup of submarines, ‘carrier killer’ missiles and advanced air-defense systems — has all but ensured that the United States would be reluctant to interfere again on behalf of Taiwan in China’s backyard.”

Enoch also points at the major inefficiencies in the modern Taiwanese military, which has been crippled by shrinking defenses, scandal among the ranks, and an end to conscription. The latter began to erode in 2000 and now “alternative services” to fulfill these duties can range from playing competitive video games to working at fast food chains like 7-11.

“We seem to expect American sons and daughters to risk their lives to protect our home, while relieving our own of that very duty,” he writes.

And if the looming threat of China does spell out regional warfare for conquest of the region, people like Enoch fear Taiwan will be the first domino to fall.

Enoch concludes, “Whether Taiwan eventually falls to Beijing depends on the choices we make now. Taiwan needs a new approach for its security: The political leadership must correct decades of mismanagement of the military and accept ultimate responsibility for the defense of the country.”

“As we visit His Holiness the Dalai Lama, our bipartisan delegation comes in his spirit of faith and peace. We come on this visit to be inspired by His Holiness and demonstrate our commitment to the Tibetan people, to their faith, their culture and their language,” Pelosi said.

China, which took control of Tibet in what it calls a “peaceful liberation” long has been accused of suppressing Tibetan culture. Throughout Tibet, reports come out of people engaging in isolated protest against Beijing. Recently, a 16-year-old boy set himself on fire while yelling “Tibet wants freedom” and “Let His Holiness the Dalai Lama come back to Tibet.”

Representative Jim McGovern, a Democrat traveling with Pelosi, has called for a new U.S. policy toward Tibet to safeguard the identity of the Tibetan people and hold China accountable for human rights abuses.

However, these issues out Washington in a sticky situation. President Donald Trump is now looking toward China as a potential piece of leverage to use against North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

The Dalai Lama is still considered a dangerous separatist by the Chinese government. He has spent a lot of his life as technically a refugee. “Here the last 58 years I am the longest guest of Indian government,” the Dalai Lama said. “But, emotionally, some concern about deep inside Tibet, and in China proper there are 400 million Buddhists.”

Following Trump’s victory in November, the spiritual leader said he was interested in meeting the president. That invitation, however, may not be coming considering recent issues especially continued provocations by North Korea and China’s willingness to work with the United States.