Toronto Star
· collected 2026-09-19 · by Jennifer Peltz The Associated Press
Story summary
US President Donald Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, where Xi pressed Trump to adopt Beijing's stance against Taiwan independence, which Taiwan rejected outright. Meanwhile, Taiwan is crucial for global tech and economy due to its leading semiconductor production; TSMC alone produces the majority of advanced chips that power smartphones, AI systems, and more. As Stanford Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann noted, economic disruption from a conflict over Taiwan would be severe.
In unrelated developments, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian met with US media at the UN General Assembly, where he denied Iran's nuclear ambitions while offering to dilute its enriched uranium and allow inspections under international law. He also blamed Washington for ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) estimates that Iran has over 440 kilograms of uranium enriched up to 60%, raising concerns despite Pezeshkian's denials.
Taiwan's representative, Ambassador Alexander Yui, clarified during an interview on CBS’s "Face the Nation" that while Taiwan was discussed between Trump and Xi, it wasn't a major focus. He emphasized there has been no change in US policy towards Taiwan amid recent tensions with China.
Written for “Taiwan Iran Us Relations Midterms” on 2026-10-05,
grounded in this article and the 386 other(s) covering the same event.
The U.N. General Assembly is launching into its yearly meeting of world leaders, a week of diplomacy, dealmaking, speechmaking — and lingo.
asserted
Assembly → launch → diplomacy
Here is some of the key vocabulary, decoded.
asserted
some → decode → vocabulary
For starters ...
UNGA: Shorthand (often pronounced “UN’-gah”) for the U.N. General Assembly’s “High-level Week,” when presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and other top leaders of all 193 U.N. member countries are invited to speak to the world and each other.
asserted
presidents → pronounce → world
New Yorkers sometimes just groan “General Assembly” to describe what many experience as a week of epic traffic, but the assembly isn’t just this meeting.
asserted
assembly → groan → traffic
It’s a body that discusses many global issues and votes on resolutions throughout the year.
asserted
that → ’ → year
The centerpiece of the week, it gives each country’s leader (or a designee) the microphone for a state-of-the-world speech.
asserted
it → give → speech
This year’s theme is “restoring trust, managing transformation” and ensuring the 81-year-old United Nations “delivers for all.”
asserted
Nations → restore → all
But speakers often opine on the planet’s biggest issues and hot spots, spotlight domestic accomplishments and needs, air grievances and try to exude statesmanship.
asserted
speakers → opine → statesmanship
While the “debate” is more a series of speeches than an interactive discussion, rebuttals are allowed at the end of each long day, and some embittered neighbor nations routinely go multiple rounds.
asserted
nations → allow → rounds
Many UNGA veterans say the gathering’s real value lies in these tête-à-têtes and other personal, off-camera encounters among decision-makers.
asserted
value → say → makers
The 15-member council can enact binding (though sometimes ignored) resolutions, impose sanctions and deploy peacekeeping troops.
asserted
council → enact → troops
While this week is the General Assembly’s show, the council generally also holds a high-wattage meeting or two.
asserted
council → hold → meeting
Under a structure set up in 1945, they are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
asserted
they → set → 1945
The General Assembly elects them for two-year terms in seats allocated by region.
asserted
Assembly → elect → region
One major complaint is the lack of permanent members from Africa and the Latin America-Caribbean region, though some other nations also have angled for years for a permanent presence.
asserted
nations → angle → presence
G77: Stands for the “Group of 77 and China,” a developing-countries interest group that formed within the U.N. in 1964.
asserted
that → stand → 1964
Despite its name, it actually now has 134 members.
asserted
it → have → members
Under the 2015 Paris climate accord, countries agreed to work to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) over preindustrial times.
asserted
countries → agree → times
The goal has long seemed elusive, and the U.N. acknowledged this month that the planet will surpass that threshold in the next few years.
asserted
planet → seem → years
Initial here
SDGs: The U.N.‘s “ sustainable development goals,” which range from combating climate change to eliminating hunger and poverty to achieving gender equality.
asserted
which → range → equality
The U.N.‘s member countries unanimously adopted the goals in 2015 as a 15-year action plan, but the pace is seriously lagging.
SIDS:
asserted
pace → adopt → plan
At the U.N., this stands for some 39 “small island developing states.”
asserted
this → stand → states
UNGA is an important platform for them to elevate concerns such as climate change and the existential threat they face from projections of rising seas and intensifying storms, often a painfully timely subject at a meeting that falls in the thick of the Atlantic hurricane season.
asserted
that → elevate → season
BRICS: A developing-economies coalition that initially included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and has grown to 11 countries.
asserted
that → develop → countries
There are many international groups centered around regional, economic, defense or other ties, but BRICS nations boast about half the world’s population and a lot of its resources and economic activity.
asserted
nations → be → resources
The group has been a venue for China and Russia to project influence and work to counter the West.
asserted
China → project → West
It also is struggling with internal divisions.
asserted
It → struggle → divisions
LDCs: Very poor nations that are known at the U.N. as “ least-developed countries.”
asserted
that → know → countries
Forty-four nations currently meet the criteria, which include a gross national income of $1,088 or less per person per year.
asserted
which → meet → year
IFIs: International financial institutions, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which were established at a 1944 U.N. conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.
asserted
which → include → Woods
Critics see the Bretton Woods duo as sclerotic entities that have badly failed poor and developing countries.
asserted
that → see → countries
The institutions have defended their work while saying they are trying to evolve.
asserted
they → defend → work
Global or near-global partnership that is united and collectively develops enduring rules and shared norms.
asserted
that → unite → rules
The idea undergirds the U.N. itself, though many warn it’s under threat.
asserted
it → undergird → threat
MULTISTAKEHOLDER: An approach to big projects and problem-solving that incorporates not only governments but businesses, NGOs and possibly others.
uncertain
that → incorporate → governments
Fans see this concept as key to the future of world cooperation.
asserted
Fans → see → cooperation
But some progressive groups view it as a sell-out to big corporations and other powers that be.
asserted
that → view → corporations
The framework was set down in the 1993 Oslo Accords and embraced by the U.N., but progress toward implementing it stalled long before the recent Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
asserted
progress → set → Bank
Most of the international community considers the settlements illegal.
asserted
settlements → consider → community
SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION: Collaboration among countries, organizations and people in what is known as the Global South.
asserted
what → know → South
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
