US Secretary of State Marco Rubio rejected on Saturday the idea of abandoning Taiwan as part of a trade deal with China sought by President Donald Trump.

Trump is expected to meet in the coming week with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a summit in South Korea, with Trump eyeing a deal on trade relations between the world's two largest economies.

"Taiwan has a lot of things that they're worried about and rightfully so because of the situation they find themselves in," Rubio told reporters on his plane between Israel and Qatar.

"If what people are worried about is we're going to get some trade deal or we're going to get favourable treatment on trade in exchange for walking away from Taiwan, no one is contemplating that," he said.

Under longstanding policy, the United States recognise

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