Taiwan's president visits Eswatini despite China's objection

Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te arrived in the African nation of Eswatini on Saturday, announcing the trip on social media.

In a post on X, he said that he had arrived in Taiwan's only diplomatic ally in Africa to "affirm our longstanding friendship." "Taiwan will never be deterred by external pressures," Lai added.

Lai was to visit Eswatini from April 22-26, but the Taiwanese government was forced to postpone the trip after Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar withdrew permission for the president to fly over their territories, which Taipei said was due to pressure from China.

Beijing denied it had applied economic pressure to block Lai's trip, but at the same time said it had "high appreciation" for the three countries' actions.

In a separate Facebook post on Saturday, Lai wrote that the visit had been made possible thanks to the careful planning of his diplomatic and national security teams.

He added that the trip would strengthen the friendship between Taiwan and Eswatini further by fostering closer economic, agricultural, cultural and educational ties.

How did China react to the visit?

Shortly after Lai posted on social media about his visit, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the president was "performing a laughable stunt in front of the world," referring to him being "smuggled" out of Taiwan.

The ministry described Lai's visit and "undignified act" as a "losing cause" and said that "nothing will ever change the fact that Taiwan is part of China."

"We urge Eswatini and some other individual countries to see where the arc of history bends and stop serving as the prop of 'Taiwan independence' separatists," it added.

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Taiwan's 12 diplomatic allies

China views Taiwan, which is governed democratically, as part of its territory and does not recognize its right to state-to-state ties. Over the years, the number of countries with formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan has gradually decreased.

Lai rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, stating that Taiwan has the right to engage with other countries and that its future should be decided by its people alone.

Currently, only 12 states still 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: the Marshall Islands, Palau, and Tuvalu. One is in Africa (Eswatini), and one is in Europe (the Vatican).

Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah