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Opinion

US health chief's Taiwan visit calibrated to incense China

Beijing's retaliation options include scrapping US-China phase one trade deal

| Taiwan
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar speaks at the presidential office in Taipei on Aug. 10: China will respond cautiously to the Azar visit.   © Central News Agency/Reuters

Admiral James Stavridis was 16th Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and 12th Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He spent the bulk of his operational career in the Pacific, including multiple command assignments.

The highest-level U.S. diplomatic delegation to travel to Taiwan in four decades landed Sunday in a move calibrated to incense China. Led by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, the purpose of the visit was ostensibly to discuss Taiwan's exceptionally effective response to the pandemic.

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