The US health minister is about to visit Taiwan, China reacts harshly
The Chinese Foreign
Ministry said that the visit of US Secretary Azar to Taiwan would endanger the
"peace and stability" of the region.
On August 5, Reuters
reported, US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar will have a
visit to Taiwan in the next few days. The visit marks the highest-ranking
US official in four decades to visit Taiwan, a territory that China considers
part of the territory, which can be annexed by force if necessary. So the
visit could provoke an angry response from Beijing.
The US Department of Health
calls this a "historic" visit. Accompanying Minister Azar during
this visit are Mitchell Wolfe - senior staff of the US Department of Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) and some other members of the government.
Regarding developments, the
Chinese Foreign Ministry said the visit of US Secretary Azar to Taiwan would
endanger the "peace and stability" of the region.
"China firmly opposes official exchanges between the US and Taiwan. We urge the United States to abide by the 'One China' principle, stop all communication and not send any false signals to Taiwan."
Foreign Ministry spokesman
of China said in a press conference in Beijing today.
A spokesman for the Chinese
Ministry of Foreign Affairs also warned the United States to stop causing
serious harm to the Sino-US relationship as well as peace and stability in the
Taiwan Strait. At the same time, he affirmed that Taiwan is the most
important and sensitive issue in Beijing and Washington relations.
It is known that this expected
visit of the US Secretary takes place in the context that the relationship
between the US and China is considered to be at its worst level since the two
countries established diplomatic relations four decades ago due to
irregularities on a series of issues from trade campaign, COVID-19 campaign,
human rights to Taiwan.
In particular, during the
visit, Mr. Azar is expected to have a meeting with the head of Taiwan, Ms. Thai
Anh Van.
Mr. Azar emphasized:
"Taiwan has become a model of transparency and cooperation on global health issues throughout COVID-19 and long before that".
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