China calls out US over Azar's Taiwan visit, urges it to cease contact with island

China has recently criticised US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar due to his visit to Taiwan. According to reports, China slammed Azar of August 10 for his Taiwan visit amid rising tensions between China and the United States. China has long stated that it considers Taiwan to be a part of China and that it will see the island return back under the fold of the mainland someday.

China urges US to cease contact with Taiwan

As per reports, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian at a press briefing urged the US to stop all official interaction with Taiwan, including its ongoing official visit and also urged the US to ceases all contact with the island. During his visit to Taiwan that has been deemed historic by observers, Azar reportedly highlighted the shared democratic values of the United States and Taiwan.

"I'm grateful to President Tsai for welcoming us to Taiwan. And I look forward to using this visit to convey our admiration for Taiwan and to learn about how our shared democratic values have driven success in health," Azar was quoted as saying during his speech, before a meeting with Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen.

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Azar is the first high-profile US politician to visit the self-ruled island in four decades and the 'highest-level' visit comes amid the deteriorating relations between Washington and Beijing. Azar during his meeting with the Taiwanese president told her that there are three themes of his visit - one is to recognise Taiwan as a global leader in health because of its excellent handling of the pandemic, second is to reaffirm Taiwan as a long partner and friend of the United States in order to highlight both the countries' history of broad collaboration on public health.

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According to reports, the relationship between China and the United States has severely deteriorated for a number of reasons, from the imposition of the national security law in Hong Kong to China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. US President Donald Trump has also called out China several times regarding its handling of the coronavirus pandemic which has also led to a souring of relations.

(Input Credits: ANI)