China and Taiwan traded sharp words as the UN General Assembly opened, a bad sign for cross-strait tension but nothing new in substance.

• Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office said Lai Ching-te and his party will fail and "humiliate themselves" by challenging the One China principle.
• It insisted nothing can stop what it calls the historical trend toward unification with the mainland.
• Lai had said China wrongly uses UN Resolution 2758 to claim Taiwan, arguing Taiwan is a sovereign country and not part of the People's Republic of China.
• Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council hit back that the resolution never mentions Taiwan and that Beijing is simply repeating an old line.
• Taipei notes several countries have also rejected China's reading of the resolution, and Lai points to WWII-era documents that never handed Taiwan to Beijing.

Outlook: Expect more public sparring over Taiwan's status while the UN session runs, with neither side shifting position.