In a surprise move, a US cabinet member has met the President of Taiwan on Monday, angering Beijing further an already tense political environment. Alex Azar, Health and Human Services Secretary, is the highest American politician to hold talks on the island for decades.
The Chinese government sees Taiwan as a broken province, but in it all intents and purposes, it is an independent and a sovereign state. In response to the Monday talks, Beijing warned Washington to respect what it called “one China” principle.
A statement from the foreign ministry said that China warns the US not to give any wrong signals to the territory’s independence elements to avoid tensions between the two nuclear states.
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The US Secretary arrived in Taiwan a day before the meeting with the President was scheduled. He said that there were three overreaching themes for the visit. Azar added that the first is to recognize Taiwan as an open and democratic society as well as executing a transparent and highly successful coronavirus outbreak response.
He said the second is to reaffirm the country as a friend and long partner of the United States. Azar added the third is to recognize Taiwan as the global leader of health for its numerous contribution to the international health systems.
Even though the US has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but the Taiwan Relations Act of 1976 allows the country to sell arms to the island and commit to strong relations.
Meanwhile, as compared to other countries around the world, Taiwan has very few confirmed cases and fatalities. As of Monday, it has a total of 480 confirmed infections, with only 17 deaths. Primarily because of its early response to the outbreak. On January 23, the authorities canceled flights to Wuhan, ahead of the rest of the world.
Taiwan has also introduced quarantine facilities in January and made a comprehensive track and trace plan to curb any further spread of the respiratory disease. However, the island is not a member of the WHO as it is not recognized by China and the UN.
According to Taiwan’s health officials, it asked the international health agency about more information regarding the pandemic, but it got no reply. However, the WHO said in a statement that Taiwan did not mention human-to-human transmission in the email.
