Ten days ago, the president of the Republic of China tried to visit Eswatini, a small African country that is one of the few in the world, about twelve in all these days, to extend the courtesy of diplomatic recognition to the ROC.
Having heard about Lai’s travel plans and always looking to cause trouble, the People’s Republic of China dialed up the African countries whose air space President Lai’s plane would have to cross en route and either asked or ordered them to refuse overflight permission. The governments of those nations would probably not have ordered Lai’s plane to be shot down had he proceeded as planned. But he canceled the trip and, a few days later, sent his foreign minister to Eswatini to do some diplomacy in his stead.
Now, thanks to careful planning and avoidance of advance publicity, President Lai has reached Eswatini as well (BBC, May 2, 2026).
On social media, Lai expressed his appreciation for Eswatini’s willingness to stand firm against “various diplomatic and economic pressure, speaking out for Taiwan’s international place through concrete actions.”
One of the forms of economic pressure that China is exerting entails removing tariffs “for all African countries…except Eswatini….”
A spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, irked that Lai had managed to foil the CCP’s masterly plan to keep him out of Eswatini, sputtered: “No matter how the Democratic Progressive Party authorities collude with external forces or in what form they ‘buy the loyalty of others’, it is all a futile effort that cannot change the fact that Taiwan is part of China.”
“Collusion” is interaction the People’s Republic disapproves of. “External forces” are people it disapproves of.
