Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te arrived in the African country of Eswatini on Saturday, announcing the visit on social media.
In a post on X, he said he had reached out to Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in Africa to “affirm our long-term friendship.” “Taiwan will never be deterred by external pressures,” Lai said.
Lai was scheduled to visit Eswatini from April 22–26, but the Taiwan government was forced to postpone the trip to Seychelles, with Mauritius and Madagascar withdrawing permission for the president to fly over their territories, which Taipei said was due to pressure from China.
Beijing denied that it had applied economic pressure to block Lai’s visit, but said it had “high appreciation” for the three countries’ actions.
In a separate Facebook post on Saturday, Lai wrote that the visit was possible due to careful planning by his diplomatic and national security teams.
He said the visit will further strengthen the friendship between Taiwan and Eswatini by promoting closer economic, agricultural, cultural and educational ties.
What was China’s reaction to this visit?
Shortly after Lai posted on social media about his visit, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the president was “pulling a ridiculous stunt in front of the world” by referring to the Chinese being “smuggling” from Taiwan.
The ministry described Lai’s visit and “indecent act” as a “losing cause” and said it “will never change the fact that Taiwan is part of China.”
It added, “We urge Eswatini and some other countries to look at where the curve of history lies and stop acting as supporters of ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists.”
Taiwan’s 12 diplomatic allies
China views democratically ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and does not recognize its right to state-to-state relations. The number of countries that have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan has gradually decreased over the years.
Lai rejected Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying Taiwan has the right to associate with other countries and that its future should be decided by its people.
Currently, only 12 states have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Most of them are in Latin America and the Caribbean: Belize, Guatemala, Paraguay, Haiti, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Three are in the Pacific Ocean: the Marshall Islands, Palau, and Tuvalu. One is in Africa (Eswatini), and one is in Europe (Vatican).
Edited by: Sam Dusan Inayatullah