Alex Azar will be the highest-ranking US official to visit Taiwan since 1979A senior US official is scheduled to travel to Taiwan in the “coming days”, marking the highest-level visit by Washington to the self-governing island in four decades. The trip by Alex Azar, the secretary of health and human services, will be the first by a US health secretary and the first in six years by any US cabinet-level official. The visit will further infuriate Beijing, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory, at a time when US-China relationships are at their lowest point in decades. Mr Azar’s trip, described as historic by the department, will highlight the island’s stellar response to the coronavirus epidemic, the US department said. “Taiwan has been a model of transparency and co-operation in global health during the Covid-19 pandemic

Source: The Times August 05, 2020 07:52 UTC