Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te visited Eswatini despite alleged efforts by China to obstruct the trip by pressuring Seychelles, Mauritius, and Madagascar to deny flight permits. Ching-te described the visit as proof Taiwan would not retreat from global engagement and signed trade agreements with King Mswati III. Ching-te’s visit and the deals signed grant Eswatini, Taiwan’s only African diplomatic ally, greater economic and political backing. Conversely, it grants Taiwan a symbolic foreign-policy victory against Beijing’s isolation campaign. However, the episode risks making Beijing appear diplomatically aggressive as its pressure tactics draw attention. The visit also shifts leverage in the China-Taiwan rivalry by showing smaller states can still resist Beijing’s influence. In the longer term, the episode underscores intensifying geopolitical competition for diplomatic recognition and strategic partnerships across Africa.
Al Jazeera
