The United States has pledged its full support for Taiwan’s participation in World Health Organisation events during a rare telephone call between the two sides’ health ministers – a move observers said was certain to spark a protest from Beijing and further strain cross-strait and US-China relations.

In a 30-minute discussion on Monday, Taiwanese Health Minister Chen Shih-chung and US counterpart Alex Azar exchanged views on coronavirus strategies and global health issues, according to the island’s health ministry.

Azar thanked Taiwan for donating masks to the US and praised the self-ruled island’s achievements in containing Covid-19 – the disease caused by the coronavirus – while Chen expressed his appreciation of American collaboration with Taiwan on the outbreak and the US’ support for Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly and other WHO events, the ministry said.

“Secretary Azar reiterated the US pledge of full support for Taiwan to take part in WHO and other global health events, so that Taiwan could share its expertise with the world,” the ministry said.

The teleconference was the first between ministerial officials from the US and Taiwan since the coronavirus outbreak was first reported in mainland China in late December.

Not a WHO member, Taiwan has sought to join the body in the past few decades, but has been prevented by pressure from Beijing, which insists that Taiwan is not a country – a prerequisite for joining. Beijing considers the island a wayward province that must be united with mainland China, by force if necessary.

Taiwan has claimed that its exclusion creates a gap in global efforts to contain the pandemic, but Beijing says it could share information for the island.

Taipei’s health ministry later wrote on Twitter that the meeting had been fruitful, and thanked the US for its support for Taiwan’s participation in WHO events.

Azar also tweeted about the meeting, saying: “This morning I spoke with Minister Chen of Taiwan regarding the Covid-19 outbreak. I thanked him for Taiwan's efforts to share their best practices and resources with the US. Now, more than ever, global health partnership is crucial and I appreciate Taiwan’s contributions.”

Taiwan has won global recognition for its initial success in containing the coronavirus through a swift response and transparency. It has had no new local transmissions in the past 15 days, and as of Tuesday had recorded 429 confirmed cases during the pandemic, with six deaths and 307 recoveries.

Taipei does not have official relations with the US, which recognises Beijing diplomatically. But US-Taiwan relations have reached an all-time high since Trump took office in 2017 and adopted a policy of countering the mainland.

Observers said that at a time when Washington and Beijing have been trading accusations about the coronavirus outbreak, Monday’s meeting highlighted the cooperation between the US and Taiwan in health and security.

“The ministerial meeting is significant in the sense that it highlights not only Taiwan’s success in containing the outbreak but also the increasingly close and firm cooperation between Taiwan and the US, which greatly helps to promote Taiwan’s international status,” said Arthur Wang Zhin-sheng, secretary general of Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association, a private think tank in Taipei.

Cooperation between Taiwan and the US has in recent months included fighting disinformation and holding a security dialogue, as well as fighting Covid-19. Late last month, the two sides signed an agreement on pandemic cooperation, which included efforts to develop a vaccine.

Wang said Monday’s meeting would irk Beijing but was related to US discontent over how Beijing handled the coronavirus when it was discovered in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

“The US wants to tell Beijing that, compared with Taiwan, it has done a bad job in fighting the pandemic, which has resulted in the world suffering,” Wang said.

US President Donald Trump has accused Beijing of lacking transparency over the true extent of the initial outbreak in China. In response, Beijing has suggested that the virus may have been brought to China by the US Army.