China pressure forces Taiwan to cancel Eswatini visit

TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Taiwan abruptly canceled President Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) planned visit to Eswatini on Tuesday (April 21) after three African nations revoked overflight permission without warning. Taipei blamed the move on intense pressure from Beijing, including economic coercion. The cancellation came just hours before Lai was scheduled to depart Wednesday for what would have been his first foreign trip in about a year.

Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) announced the postponement at an emergency press conference Tuesday evening. He said Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar had cancelled overflight permits "without warning" and "without reason." Pan said the national security team determined the risks to the president and flight crew were too high to proceed.

"The actual reason was strong pressure from Chinese authorities, including economic coercion," Pan said, reading from an official statement. He called the move "unprecedented in international affairs" and said it violated international aviation norms and conventions. Taiwan's government "strongly condemns the brutal actions of the Beijing authorities," Pan added.

National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) explained that Taiwan had planned a direct flight to avoid conflict zones in the Middle East. The flight information regions of the three countries lie directly along the critical air corridor to Eswatini, which is located on Africa's southeastern coast. Wu said Taiwan had obtained all necessary overflight permits through proper international channels before the sudden revocations.

"These three countries cancelled overflight permission in recent days without any reason," Wu said. "The situation is extremely rare. Based on our understanding, it was clearly due to pressure from the Beijing authorities." Wu declined to specify which countries had assisted Taiwan in negotiations, citing diplomatic considerations.

Lai had been scheduled to depart Wednesday for a six-day visit to Eswatini, Taiwan's only diplomatic ally in Africa. The trip was planned to celebrate the 58th anniversary of bilateral ties, King Mswati III's 40th year on the throne, and the king's 58th birthday. Taiwan will instead send a special envoy to attend the celebrations, though the envoy's identity has not been announced.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said the three countries "were forced to change their sovereign decisions under enormous pressure from China." He added that Taiwan understood their economic dependence on Beijing but condemned China's interference in other nations' internal affairs. Wu called on the international community to recognize how China uses "brutal methods" to coerce other countries.

The postponement came 11 days after Kuomintang (KMT, 國民黨) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing on April 10. The Mainland Affairs Council (陸委會), Taiwan's top China policy agency, noted Beijing had announced 10 Taiwan-related policy measures shortly before disrupting the trip. The council said this exposed a "two-handed strategy" of offering goodwill while applying pressure.

KMT spokesperson Yin Nai-ching (尹乃菁) said the party "deeply regrets" the postponement and called on Beijing to "exercise restraint and reduce suppression" of Taiwan's diplomatic space. However, Yin rejected any link between the cancelled trip and the recent Cheng-Xi meeting, noting Taiwan had lost 10 diplomatic allies under the previous and current administrations—all before the April 10 summit.

The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP, 民進黨) called on all political parties to condemn China's actions. DPP spokesperson Michelle Lin (林楚茵) said the incident was "the greatest irony and rebuke" of Beijing's claims of goodwill toward Taiwan, coming so soon after the "Cheng-Xi summit" (鄭習會) where China "constantly boasted" of its benevolent policies.

Lai responded to the postponement in a social media post Tuesday evening, saying "China's threats and suppression cannot change Taiwan's determination to engage with the world." He added: "The road to the world may occasionally face headwinds, but Taiwan will not change because of external obstacles. We will continue to work pragmatically for Taiwan's diplomacy."

Pan, the presidential office secretary-general, framed the incident in stark terms. "The Republic of China Taiwan is a sovereign nation. Taiwan is the world's Taiwan," he said. "The 23 million people of Taiwan have the right to engage with the world. No country has the right to block this, nor can they." ◼