Former NATO chief visits Taiwan

The trip takes place amid a row between Beijing and Washington, which accuse each other of stoking tensions in the region, according to Russia Today.

Also, a few days North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said on Sunday that the United States, under the pretext of strengthening cooperation with South Korea and Japan, was creating an "Asian version of NATO." 

Rasmussen, a former Danish prime minister who led NATO between 2009 and 2014, was greeted on arrival by Vincent Yao, Taipei’s top official responsible for European affairs.

He is also scheduled to meet with Vice President Lai Ching-te and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, the RT cited the island’s Foreign Ministry as saying.

Rasmussen founded the Alliance of Democracies (AoD) think tank in 2017. “The visit will focus on support from the democratic world for Taiwan and closer EU-Taiwan relations,” the group said in a statement on its website.

Beijing considers Taiwan, which has had a separate government since the late 1940s, part of its territory and strongly opposes any forms of diplomatic recognition of Taipei.

MNA/PR