<\/p>\n
Eswatini in southern Africa is one of just 12 small states, mostly in Latin America, the \u200bCaribbean and the Pacific, that have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Maintaining ties with them is a \u200bpriority for the government of the democratically ruled island, which China views as part \u2060of its own territory.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Last month, Lai postponed a visit to attend the 40th anniversary of King \u200bMswati III’s accession, with Taiwan saying the Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar had unilaterally revoked flight permits for Lai’s aircraft to cross airspace they \u200bmanage because of Chinese pressure.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
That was the first time a Taiwan President had cancelled an entire foreign trip due to the denial of airspace access, representing what appeared to be a new Chinese strategy to curb the island’s international engagement.
\nIn posts on his Facebook and \u200bX accounts, Lai said he had arrived in Eswatini on Saturday on a trip not previously announced \u200bby either government.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Taiwan will never be deterred by external pressures. Our resolve & commitment are underpinned by the understanding that Taiwan \u200cwill \u2060continue to engage with the world, no matter the challenges faced,” Lai wrote in English on X.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Neither his posts nor a statement from his office on the trip mentioned how he had gotten there, though he showed a picture of himself stepping off what looked like an Eswatini government jet, which this \u200bweek brought Deputy Prime Minister \u200bThulisile Dladla to Taipei.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
China’s \u2060Foreign Ministry said Lai had “secretly slipped aboard a foreign aircraft and sneaked out of Taiwan, lavishly squandering public funds”.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“No matter how the Democratic Progressive Party authorities \u200bcollude with external forces or in what form they ‘buy the loyalty of \u200bothers,’ it is \u2060all a futile effort that cannot change the fact that Taiwan is part of China,” it said in a statement referring to Lai’s party.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–Reuters–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":33574,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-33559","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Taiwan President Lai Ching-te reached Eswatini on Saturday, two weeks after \u200che was forced to postpone a trip to a diplomatic ally because Indian Ocean states had blocked his flight, which Taiwan's government blamed on Beijing's pressure.","published_date":"","news_description":"Taiwan President Lai Ching-te reached Eswatini on Saturday, two weeks after \u200che was forced to postpone a trip to a diplomatic ally because Indian Ocean states had blocked his flight, which Taiwan's government blamed on Beijing's pressure.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33563,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33559\/revisions\/33563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=33559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}