Azar praises Taiwan’s health efforts

CHASTISING CHINA: Taiwan’s approach to combating the coronavirus stands in stark contrast to the country where the outbreak began, the US health secretary said

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 12, 2020
By: Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter

International organizations are not the place to play politics, especially when the matter relates to healthcare, US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said in Taipei yesterday, adding that the region and the world are safer because of Taiwan’s commitment to health promotion.

On the third day of his visit, the highest-level visit by a senior US Cabinet official in decades, Azar met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) at the Grand Mayfull Hotel in Zhongshan District (中山) yesterday morning, following his meetings with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) on Monday.

Taiwan faces an increasingly difficult situation as China continues to pressure it into accepting its political conditions, “conditions that would turn Taiwan into the next Hong Kong,” Wu said before his closed-door meeting with Azar.

“The people of Taiwan are all too familiar with dealing with threats, be it military, diplomatic or the threats of epidemics,” Wu said.    [FULL  STORY]