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When Xi Jinping was wooing leaders from across Africa with a banquet on Wednesday night, King Mswati III of Eswatini was notably absent.
That’s because the kingdom — about the size of New Jersey and with just 1.2 million people — is one of Taiwan’s remaining dozen diplomatic allies. That means Eswatini doesn’t participate in Xi’s Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, a centerpiece of China’s diplomatic outreach to Africa, which is being held in Beijing this week.
The landlocked nation, which sits between Mozambique and South Africa, is the last holdout in Beijing’s seven-plus decade mission to make Africa a “Taiwan-free” zone.Burkina Faso severed its relations with Taiwan in favor of China in 2018, leaving the self-governing island with only one diplomatic partner in Africa — Eswatini.
That the tiny nation is still holding out clearly irks Beijing.
History’s ‘trend’
“Eswatini’s relationship with the so-called Taiwan authorities is not beneficial for its own interests,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday. “We believe that it will make the right decision that follows the trend of history.”
One Taiwanese official, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive issues, said the island is confident of retaining Eswatini as a diplomatic partner in the near future, and described the king as a staunch ally of Taiwan’s.
Just this week, the monarch opened a Taiwanese pavilion at a trade fair in the kingdom — far from the the pomp and ceremony taking place in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
In May, Mswati visited Taiwan to attend the inauguration of its new president, Lai Ching-te, an overture that Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian described as a “grave provocation” to the one-China principle and China’s sovereignty.
“China firmly opposes this,” Lin said at the time. “The people of Eswatini hardly received any tangible benefits and Eswatini’s national development hardly achieved any progress.”
Africa’s last absolute monarchy, Eswatini has faced criticism from civil rights groups for its ban on political parties, repression of pro-democracy activists and broader quashing of dissent. Previously called Swaziland, the kingdom is known for safari parks where visitors can view big game on horseback. Its biggest exports include sugar and concentrates used in soft drinks like Coca-Cola.
Mswati’s administration hasn’t given any indication it intends turning its back on Taiwan, and appears relieved not to have become entangled in Chinese Africa-outreach efforts that until now have centered on large infrastructure projects and the loans that often come in tandem.
Eswatini’s debt-to-gross domestic product ratio stands at about 40%, compared with the sub-Saharan African media of around 60%, International Monetary Fund data shows.
Taiwan’s support to Eswatini has mainly been in the form of grant funding, and it adopted a more “bottom-up” in its approach toward relations, Neal Rijkenberg, the kingdom’s finance minister, said in a May interview. “I do believe that our relationship with Taiwan has really paid off in the last 10 years.”
China has maintained its commercial ties with Eswatini despite their differences — it is the kingdom’s biggest source of imports after neighboring South Africa.
“It’s definitely not a hostility from a trade point of view, just because you recognize the sovereignty of Taiwan,” Rijkenberg said.
That’s because the kingdom — about the size of New Jersey and with just 1.2 million people — is one of Taiwan’s remaining dozen diplomatic allies. That means Eswatini doesn’t participate in Xi’s Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, a centerpiece of China’s diplomatic outreach to Africa, which is being held in Beijing this week.
The landlocked nation, which sits between Mozambique and South Africa, is the last holdout in Beijing’s seven-plus decade mission to make Africa a “Taiwan-free” zone.Burkina Faso severed its relations with Taiwan in favor of China in 2018, leaving the self-governing island with only one diplomatic partner in Africa — Eswatini.
That the tiny nation is still holding out clearly irks Beijing.
History’s ‘trend’
“Eswatini’s relationship with the so-called Taiwan authorities is not beneficial for its own interests,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday. “We believe that it will make the right decision that follows the trend of history.”
One Taiwanese official, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive issues, said the island is confident of retaining Eswatini as a diplomatic partner in the near future, and described the king as a staunch ally of Taiwan’s.
Just this week, the monarch opened a Taiwanese pavilion at a trade fair in the kingdom — far from the the pomp and ceremony taking place in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
In May, Mswati visited Taiwan to attend the inauguration of its new president, Lai Ching-te, an overture that Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian described as a “grave provocation” to the one-China principle and China’s sovereignty.
“China firmly opposes this,” Lin said at the time. “The people of Eswatini hardly received any tangible benefits and Eswatini’s national development hardly achieved any progress.”
Africa’s last absolute monarchy, Eswatini has faced criticism from civil rights groups for its ban on political parties, repression of pro-democracy activists and broader quashing of dissent. Previously called Swaziland, the kingdom is known for safari parks where visitors can view big game on horseback. Its biggest exports include sugar and concentrates used in soft drinks like Coca-Cola.
Mswati’s administration hasn’t given any indication it intends turning its back on Taiwan, and appears relieved not to have become entangled in Chinese Africa-outreach efforts that until now have centered on large infrastructure projects and the loans that often come in tandem.
Eswatini’s debt-to-gross domestic product ratio stands at about 40%, compared with the sub-Saharan African media of around 60%, International Monetary Fund data shows.
Taiwan’s support to Eswatini has mainly been in the form of grant funding, and it adopted a more “bottom-up” in its approach toward relations, Neal Rijkenberg, the kingdom’s finance minister, said in a May interview. “I do believe that our relationship with Taiwan has really paid off in the last 10 years.”
China has maintained its commercial ties with Eswatini despite their differences — it is the kingdom’s biggest source of imports after neighboring South Africa.
“It’s definitely not a hostility from a trade point of view, just because you recognize the sovereignty of Taiwan,” Rijkenberg said.
