Taipei, Taiwan U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Monday during a high-level visit by a U.S. Cabinet official since the break in formal diplomatic ties between Washington and Taipei in 1979, when the US recognized China. Beijing has protested Azar’s attempt as a betrayal of US commitments to prevent official contacts with the island, which claims China as its own territory and threatens to use force to bring it under its control.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense said Chinese fighters briefly crossed the median line of sensitive Taiwan Strait on Monday, but were “driven out” by Taiwan’s air force, the Reuters news agency reported.
Azar’s visit comes as Washington is embroiled in a series of disputes with Beijing over trade, technology, the South China Sea and Beijing’s collapse of opposition votes in Hong Kong.
Tsai told reporters at the Presidential Office Building that she was looking for “even more breakthroughs and fruits of cooperation” in dealing with the pandemic for coronavirus and other issues to “jointly contribute to the continued peaceful development of the Indo-Pacific region.”
Azar praised Taiwan’s response to COVID-19, saying its success was a tribute to the “open, transparent, democratic nature of Taiwan’s society and culture.”
Central news agency / swimming pool via Reuters
“It is a real honor to be here to convey a message of strong support and friendship from President Trump to Taiwan,” Azar said.
Azar had to consult with health officials and later gave a speech on the first day of the planned three-day visit.
Azar’s visit was facilitated by the 2018 passage of the Taiwan Travel Act, which encouraged Washington to send senior officials to Taiwan after decades in which such contacts were rare.
China has cut ties with Tsai over its refusal to recognize China’s claim to the island and has put increasing diplomatic, economic and military pressure on it, including by strangling several of its remaining diplomatic allies and barring it from international meetings , including the World Health Assembly.
That in turn has already increased much bipartisan sympathy for Taipei in Washington and called for new measures to strengthen government and military ties.
Taiwan, an island of 23 million people, moved rapidly and aggressively to contain COVID-19 and has recorded just 277 cases and seven deaths from the disease.
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