Beijing ups pressure on eSwatini, but Taiwan’s last African ally stands firm

While China meets African leaders at a major summit in Beijing next week, the king of eSwatini, self-ruled Taiwan’s last remaining ally on the continent, will be hosting thousands of people at a traditional Reed Dance ceremony.

By offering loans and upping diplomatic pressure, Beijing has flipped one African country at a time to its side, most recently Burkina Faso, in May. But eSwatini has stuck with Taiwan, which Beijing claims as a wayward province.

“They are our major partner,” eSwatini Foreign Affairs Minister Mgwagwa Gamedze said, referring to Taiwan. “So they [Beijing] must forget about having us in their stable.”

Despite some domestic criticism that only the royal family benefits from ties to Taipei, eSwatini looks set to stand by its old friend far away in East Asia.

eSwatini government spokesman Percy Simelane, who also speaks on behalf of the king, said Taiwan had been good to them.

“The people of eSwatini have been benefiting from the cordial relations existing between Taiwan since independence 50 years ago. The nation is benefiting and by extension, as expected, the leader benefits,” he said.

“Taiwanese doctors continue to be pillars of our health system. To say it is the king alone who benefits is a projection of political bankruptcy on the part of the accuser,” he said.