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Taipei, Taiwan:
A US cupboard member met Taiwan’s chief Monday through the highest stage go to from the United States because it switched diplomatic recognition from the island to China in 1979, a visit that Beijing has condemned.
Health Secretary Alex Azar is in Taipei for a three-day go to to advertise shared democratic values and the island’s success in taming the coronavirus.
His journey comes as relations between the United States and China are in tumult, with the 2 sides clashing over a variety of commerce, army and safety points, in addition to the pandemic.
China, which insists Taiwan is its personal territory and vows to someday reclaim it, has described Azar’s go to as a menace to “peace and stability”.
On Monday morning, Azar met President Tsai Ing-wen, who advocates the island being recognised as a sovereign nation and is loathed by China’s leaders.
“Taiwan’s response to COVID-19 has been among the most successful in the world, and that is a tribute to the open, transparent, democratic nature of Taiwan’s society and culture,” Azar advised Tsai.
Tsai thanked the US for supporting its bid to be a part of the World Health Organization (WHO), a physique Beijing retains the island frozen out of.
“Political considerations should never take precedence over the rights to health,” Tsai mentioned, calling Beijing’s refusal to let Taiwan be part of “highly regrettable”.
Azar dismissed China’s criticism when requested about Beijing’s anger over his go to.
“The message that I bring from the US government is one of reaffirming the deep partnership the United States has with Taiwan in terms of security, commerce, health care and shared common values of democracy, economic freedom and liberty,” he advised reporters earlier than his assembly with Tsai.
Azar has beforehand been essential of Beijing’s response to the coronavirus, which started in central China, in addition to the WHO.
It was a theme he repeated on Monday.
“(Taiwan) knew very early on… to not trust some of the assertions coming out of there (Beijing) or validation from the World Health Organization,” he mentioned.
As effectively as assembly Tsai, Azar will maintain talks together with his counterpart Chen Shih-chung and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu.
Testing China
Taiwan has develop into a poster little one for defeating the coronavirus because of a well-honed monitor and tracing programme in addition to agency border controls.
Despite its proximity and financial hyperlinks to China it has recorded fewer than 500 infections and 7 deaths.
In distinction the US has recorded probably the most deaths on this planet with greater than 160,000 fatalities.
Critics have accused US President Donald Trump of ramping up criticism of China as a option to divert from rising public anger over his administration’s coronavirus response, particularly as he fights for re-election in November.
Washington stays the main arms provider to Taiwan however has traditionally been cautious in holding official contacts with it.
Throughout the 1990s the United States despatched commerce officers to Taiwan with regularity.
Douglas Paal, a former head of the American Institute in Taiwan, Washington’s de facto embassy, mentioned the Trump administration was nonetheless paying heed to China’s purple line — that no US official dealing with nationwide safety go to Taiwan.
The distinction this time, he mentioned, is the context, with Azar travelling at a time when relations between Washington and Beijing have hit a brand new low.
“Sending him to Taiwan shows respect for the old framework while putting a finger in China’s eye at the same time,” Paal mentioned.
“The fact that they didn’t choose to send a national security advisor or someone else suggests they are trying to come as close as possible to China’s red line but don’t want to cross it.”
The final cupboard minister to go to Taiwan was in 2014 when the then head of the Environmental Protection Agency led a delegation.
But Washington has billed Azar’s go to as the very best stage journey made by a senior administration official for the reason that diplomatic change.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
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