Taiwan's president cancels trip to Eswatini after three African countries revoke flight permits

Taiwan’s President, Lai Ching-te, was forced to cancel his trip to Eswatini after pressure from China’s leader, Xi Jinping, led three African countries to revoke permission for his aircraft to fly over their territories.

Mr Ching-le was to visit Eswatini for the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession. This trip required his presidential aircraft to pass through the airways of Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar.

The Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Meng-an, on Wednesday, said that these countries had earlier granted permission for the aircraft to fly over their territories but later retracted it without prior notice, according to Reuters.

Eswatini is among the 12 countries that maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan. It is the only nation in Africa to do so.

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The Taiwan government said Beijing was using its influence in Africa to block the visit as part of a broader campaign to isolate the island diplomatically.

Government officials said China had applied pressure on the Seychelles, Madagascar, and Mauritius, threatening economic sanctions, including the revocation of debt relief, to get the permits revoked.

“The actual reason was intense pressure exerted by Chinese authorities, including economic coercion,” Mr Meng-an told reporters at a news conference in ⁠Taipei.

China considers Taiwan to be a part of its territory and disregards its claim of a sovereign state. This position is known as the “One China” principle, which holds that there is only one China and Taiwan is an inseparable part of it.

Beijing views the self-governed island as a breakaway province that will eventually rejoin the mainland. But many Taiwanese oppose unification with China.

Taiwan’s President, Mr Ching-te, said only Taiwan’s people can decide their future, while denouncing Beijing’s sovereignty claims.

Mr Ching-te, in a statement on X, criticised China’s “coercive actions.”

He stated that it “exposed the risks authoritarian regimes pose to the international order”.

“No amount of threats or coercion will shake Taiwan’s resolve to engage with the world.”

The Chinese government, on the other hand, has been vocal in its dislike of Mr Ching-te, whom it has previously described as a “troublemaker” and a “destroyer of cross-strait peace.”

This trip would have been his first overseas trip since November 2024. During his last trip, he visited the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, and Palau, with stopovers in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam.

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Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Seychelles and Madagascar said they decided to deny the island permission because they do not recognise it as an independent state.

According to the Seychelles’ foreign affairs ministry, the Taiwanese president’s plane had not been granted clearance for overflight or landing.

It said its position was in ‌line with ⁠the government’s longstanding policy of not recognising Taiwan’s sovereignty.

Madagascar also said, “Malagasy diplomacy recognises only one China. The decision was made in full respect of Madagascar’s sovereignty over its airspace.”