Taipei officials announced on April 13 that President Lai Ching-te will travel to Eswatini next week, marking a visit to Taiwan’s last remaining diplomatic ally on the African continent.
According to Lai’s office, the president will be in Eswatini from April 22-26. Lai’s spokesperson, Karen Kuo, told reporters the visit is timed to coincide with two events: the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and the monarch’s 58th birthday.
Eswatini, an absolute monarchy formerly known as Swaziland and home to roughly 1.3 million people, is almost entirely surrounded by South Africa. The island’s president will fly directly to Eswatini, a routing that does not require the layovers common on journeys to Taiwan’s partners in Latin America. The government noted the contrast with visits to Latin American allies, which typically involve transits via the United States - transits that the announcement said routinely anger China.
This trip will be Lai’s first travel outside Taiwan since November 2024. On that earlier trip he visited the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau, and his movement on that occasion included transits through Hawaii and the U.S. territory of Guam, the office said.
The last time a Taiwanese president visited Eswatini was in 2023, when then-President Tsai Ing-wen made the journey. Taiwan has maintained formal ties with only 12 countries overall, most of which are small and less-developed nations located in Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific, with named examples including Belize and Tuvalu. The Taipei announcement reiterated China’s position that it claims Taiwan as its own territory and asserts that Taiwan has no right to state-to-state relations.
Over the years Taiwan has provided substantial aid to Eswatini. The statement recalled a 2021 shipment of antiviral medication that was sent to assist King Mswati III in his recovery from COVID-19.
The visit is being organized amid the constraints of Taiwan’s narrow diplomatic network and the sensitivities those ties can produce in interactions involving third-party transit points. Officials highlighted the direct routing to Eswatini as a logistical difference from many Latin America trips, which routinely require passage through the United States.
No further details on the president’s itinerary or meetings beyond the anniversary and birthday events were provided in the announcement.