Taiwan President Defies China, Makes Secret Visit to Eswatini

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te landed in Eswatini after a canceled April trip and a reworked itinerary kept under wraps until he was safely on the ground, a sign of how far Beijing will go to squeeze Taiwan’s diplomatic space. The stop in Mbabane came after Taiwan said Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar revoked overflight permits under Chinese pressure, forcing the first full foreign trip by a Taiwanese president to be canceled because of airspace denials.

Lai used the visit to frame the dispute as larger than one journey. Speaking to King Mswati III, members of the royal family and other dignitaries, he said Taiwan has a right to engage with the world and that no country can block its participation. The trip had originally been planned for April 22 to April 26 to coincide with King Mswati III’s 40th anniversary of accession and 58th birthday, but the revised departure was arranged quietly after the earlier cancellation.

Beijing answered with unusual abuse. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office called Lai a “rat,” while China’s foreign ministry described the trip as a “stowaway-style escape farce.” The language underscored the intensity of the contest over Taiwan’s remaining partnerships and the signal Beijing wants to send to any government that still maintains ties with Taipei.

Eswatini is Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in Africa and one of just 12 countries that still recognize Taiwan formally. The rest are concentrated in Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific, along with Vatican City. Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, has maintained relations with Taiwan since 1968, making the relationship nearly six decades old despite the kingdom’s small size, landlocked geography and population of about 1.2 million to 1.3 million.

That history helps explain why the relationship still matters. Taiwan has used aid, diplomacy and symbolic visits to preserve its remaining international space, including antiviral medication sent to King Mswati III in 2021. For Beijing, forcing the cancellation of a presidential trip through overflight pressure shows that even small-state ties can be targeted as part of a broader campaign to isolate Taipei. For Taiwan, keeping Eswatini close is about more than one ally; it is about proving that China cannot fully erase its presence from the world stage.