Taiwan visit will ‘strengthen cooperation’, says US Health Secretary Alex Azar

Name: US health chief to make highest-level visit to Taiwan in decades, angering China
Uploaded: 2020-08-06T03:02:22.000Z
Duration: 1 min 56 s
Description: US health chief to make highest-level visit to Taiwan in decades, angering China

Praise for island’s coronavirus response ahead of highest-level US delegation since 1979

Global Times condemns highest-level US delegation to Taipei since 1979 as using ‘salami tactics’ to upgrade relations

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The date for US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar has not been announced but is expected “in coming days”. Photo: AP

Kinling Lo

Published: 11:02am, 6 Aug 2020Updated: 10:58pm, 6 Aug 2020

US Health Minister Alex Azar said he was looking forward to strengthening health cooperation between the US and Taiwan during his visit – expected to take place “in coming days” – which has drawn the ire of Beijing.

In an interview broadcast by Fox News on Wednesday, Azar also praised Taiwan’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. “We have had a really important, long-standing partnership with Taiwan, especially in the field of public health,” he told the morning programme America’s Newsroom.

“Taiwan has been a model of transparency, cooperation and collaboration in the international community. And their response to Covid has been incredible. And, frankly, it stacks up pretty well in terms of their transparency, compared to certain other entities.”

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US health chief to make highest-level visit to Taiwan in decades, angering China

Azar said he hoped to meet Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and Health Minister Chen Shih-chung during his visit, which he said would “continue this health collaboration to benefit the people of Taiwan, the people of America, and the people of the world”.

Ting Yi-ming, a spokesman for Taiwan’s cabinet, the Executive Yuan, said on Thursday that Azar would arrive in Taiwan on Sunday and meet Tsai.

The trip’s announcement on Tuesday drew a rebuke from Beijing, which regards Taiwan as its territory, to be returned to the mainland by force if necessary. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Wednesday Beijing was “firmly opposed” to official interactions between Washington and Taipei.

Wang said the Taiwan Strait was “the most sensitive issue” facing relations between the two powers. “We hope the US will stop all official exchanges between the two sides to avoid damage to China-US relations and keep the stability of the Taiwan Strait.”