US Health Secretary Xavier Becerra has held an online meeting with Taiwan’s Health Minister to discuss global health issues. The US Health Department’s Office of Global Affairs praised the discussion on Twitter in a post on Friday, saying the US backs Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly.
Health Minister Chen Shih-chung’s meeting with the US official comes just days before the official opening of the World Health Assembly (WHA). The WHA is the decision-making body of the World Health Organization. Taiwan was an observer at the WHA between 2009 and 2016. Since then, however, pressure from Chinese authorities has prevented Taiwan from attending the assembly.
The tweet by the Office of Global Affairs on Friday reads “Great meeting with Minister Chen from Taiwan to discuss the ongoing pandemic & global health issues. The U.S. supports Taiwan’s ability to access vaccines, its contributions to health security, & its return to observership at the #WHA #LetTaiwanHelp”.
This is not the first time US health officials have been in contact with Taiwan. Last year, then-Health Secretary Alex Azar led a US delegation to Taiwan, becoming the first cabinet-level official to visit since 2014.