US-China relations: is Azar’s visit to Taiwan a sign of Washington’s disregard for Beijing?

US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is set to lead a delegation to Taipei on Sunday, but observers say his trip is unlikely to herald the re-establishment of diplomatic ties

Beijing expected to tolerate the visit, unless Azar uses it as a platform to attack mainland China, academic says

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US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is set to arrive in Taiwan on Sunday. Photo: AP

Published: 5:00am, 9 Aug 2020Updated: 8:11am, 9 Aug 2020

The upcoming visit of a senior US official to Taiwan is evidence of the healthy relationship between the two sides and indicative of Washington’s dwindling concern about upsetting Beijing, observers say.

US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is set to lead a delegation to the self-ruled island on Sunday, according to Taipei. The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the United States’ de facto embassy in Taipei, also announced the visit but did not give a date.

Azar is the highest-ranking member of the US cabinet to visit Taiwan since Washington severed ties with the island in favour of establishing formal relations with mainland China in 1979. He is also the first senior US official to visit Taiwan since US President Donald Trump signed the Taiwan Travel Act into law in 2018.

Beijing has been critical of Azar’s planned trip, describing it as a violation of the “one China” policy the US promised to observe on the establishment of diplomatic ties with Beijing.

In contrast to the steadily worsening relationship between mainland China and the US, which has seen them clashing on issues from trade and technology to defence and human rights, ties between Taipei and Washington have improved significantly since Tsai Ing-wen was elected the island’s president in 2016.