Taiwan President Lai Ching-te delivers a speech after inspecting reservists operating a Taiwan made Hummer 2 Drone during a training session at Loung Te Industrial Parks Service Center in… Purchase Licensing Rights
For the first time in Taiwan’s diplomatic history, a sitting president has been forced to abandon a planned overseas visit after China allegedly pressured three African nations to slam shut their airspace to the Taiwanese leader’s aircraft.
President Lai Ching-te confirmed Tuesday he was scrapping his planned trip to Eswatini — one of only 12 countries worldwide that still maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taipei — after the Seychelles, Mauritius, and Madagascar abruptly withdrew overflight clearances for his presidential aircraft without advance notice.
Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Meng-an left little doubt about who was behind the coordinated move. “The actual reason was intense pressure exerted by Chinese authorities, including economic coercion,” he told a hastily called news conference in Taipei. A senior Taiwan security official went further, telling reporters that Beijing had threatened the three island nations with economic sanctions, including the revocation of debt relief, if they allowed the Taiwanese leader’s plane to cross their skies.
The trip had been scheduled to mark the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession to the throne of the small southern African nation, formerly known as Swaziland and home to roughly 1.3 million people. The last Taiwanese presidential visit to Eswatini took place in 2023, when then-President Tsai Ing-wen made the journey.
Madagascar’s foreign ministry made no attempt to conceal the political reasoning behind its decision. “Malagasy diplomacy recognises only one China. The decision was made in full respect of Madagascar’s sovereignty over its airspace,” a ministry official told reporters. The Seychelles declined to comment, and Mauritius had not responded to requests for a statement by the time of publication.
Beijing, which claims Taiwan as a province with no right to statehood, has long harboured particular animosity toward Lai, branding him a “separatist.” While Taiwanese presidents have historically encountered few obstacles flying over countries with which the island has no formal ties, China’s campaign against Lai appears to have broken that convention entirely.
The cancelled trip would have been Lai’s first international travel since November 2024, when he visited the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, and Palau, with stopovers in Hawaii and the U.S. territory of Guam. In a sign of how Beijing sought to project a contrasting image, Chinese President Xi Jinping was simultaneously meeting Mozambican President Daniel Chapo in Beijing on Tuesday, pledging support for Africa’s development needs — with no mention of the Eswatini episode in state media readouts.
Lai, refusing to be silenced, took to Facebook to frame the incident in broader geopolitical terms. China’s “suppressive actions,” he wrote, illustrate the danger that authoritarian governments pose to the international order, peace, and stability. “No threat or suppression can change Taiwan’s determination to engage with the world, nor can it negate Taiwan’s ability to contribute to the international community,” he added.
Lai has consistently rejected Beijing’s sovereignty claims over the island, maintaining that only Taiwan’s people have the right to determine their own future. China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah