{"id":47670,"date":"2026-10-09T13:00:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T11:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=47670"},"modified":"2026-10-09T13:00:21","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T11:00:21","slug":"eswatini-king-pledges-to-strengthen-enduring-friendship-with-taiwan","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/eswatini-king-pledges-to-strengthen-enduring-friendship-with-taiwan\/","title":{"rendered":"eSwatini king pledges to strengthen \u2018enduring friendship\u2019 with Taiwan"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>eSwatini\u2019s king pledged this Friday to strengthen his country\u2019s \u201cenduring friendship\u201d with Taiwan, during a return visit to Taipei after President Lai Ching-te\u2019s trip to the southern African nation in May that China tried to block.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>King Mswati III is set to attend Taiwan\u2019s national day celebrations on Saturday. The former Swaziland is one of just 12 small states, mostly in Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific, that have diplomatic relations with Taiwan.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Maintaining ties with them is a priority for the government of the democratically ruled island, which China views as part of its own territory.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>In April, Taiwan accused China of pressuring three other African countries to block overflight permission for Lai\u2019s aircraft, causing him to postpone a plan to join celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the king\u2019s accession.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Lai then made a surprise trip in May, using an \u201carrive, then announce\u201d approach more commonly followed by foreign leaders visiting war-torn countries, such as Ukraine. The monarch said Eswatini would continue to advocate for Taiwan\u2019s meaningful participation in the United Nations, to which it does not belong due to Beijing\u2019s objections.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cWe deeply value the enduring friendship and cooperation between our two countries, and we look forward to strengthening these bonds for the benefit of our peoples,\u201d the king told a welcome ceremony on Taipei\u2019s Liberty Square.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Lai said the two sides had always collaborated from a position of trust and were partners who \u201csupport each other and grow together\u201d.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>China\u2019s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the king\u2019s Taiwan trip. April\u2019s incident was the first time a Taiwan president had cancelled an entire foreign trip due to denial of airspace access, an apparent new Chinese strategy to curb the island\u2019s international ties.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The United States, European Union and Britain all expressed concern at the time.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Lai\u2019s return flight to Taipei in May, on the king\u2019s private A-340, took a route skirting airspace controlled by Mauritius and Madagascar, two of the nations Taiwan said were pressured by China to deny him airspace access.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>In May, China condemned eSwatini\u2019s leaders for being \u201ckept and fed\u201d by Taiwan.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;SABC&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14221,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-47670","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The United States, European Union and Britain all expressed concern at the time.","published_date":"","news_description":"The United States, European Union and Britain all expressed concern at the time.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47670","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":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47671,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47670\/revisions\/47671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=47670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}