Mr Azar plans to meet with several top officials to promote U.S.-Taiwan cooperation on the COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar will lead a delegation in a rare high-level visit to Taiwan, the first visit by a U.S. Cabinet-level official since 2014, in a bid to promote cooperation between the two countries in combating the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Azar and the delegation will arrive in Taipei on August 9. Taiwan has reported just 477 coronavirus infections and no cases of local transmission since April 12. Its strict quarantine, contact tracing, and mask wearing initiatives have won praise both within the country and abroad.

The United States had reported over 4.8 million cases and at least 158,000 deaths as of early Thursday morning, both higher numbers than any other country.

Azar said he was “looking forward” to the trip to Taiwan, where he plans to meet President Tsai Ing-wen, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung, and other top officials.

My opinion: President Trump’s insufferable sense of entitlement has turned him into a laughing stock. It is so ironical and ridiculous to send away his Health Secretary Mr Azar, the most important man in the Health Ministry when the US has the greatest number of Covid 19 cases in the world. The US population is about 5% of the world population but is has about 25% of the total number of Covid 19 cases.

His true intention for sending his Health Secretary Mr Azar to visit Taiwan is to irritate China.