Taiwan and Eswatini: Africa's Last Diplomatic Lifeline Hangs on One Person

30-second overview: Eswatini (renamed from “Swaziland” in 2018) is Taiwan’s only remaining diplomatic ally in Africa. It established relations with the Republic of China in September 1968, a relationship that reaches its 58th year in 2026. King Mswati III was born in April 1968; five months later, on the same day his country became independent, it established diplomatic relations with Taiwan. His life almost entirely overlaps with Taiwan-Eswatini diplomatic history, and as of 2024 he had visited Taiwan more than 17 times¹. After Nauru severed ties in January 2024, Eswatini became Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in Africa². On May 2, 2026, Lai Ching-te made his first visit to a diplomatic ally after taking office. The trip was originally scheduled to depart on April 22, but after Seychelles, Mauritius, and Madagascar abruptly revoked flight permits under Chinese pressure, Mswati sent an Eswatini Airbus A340 special aircraft to carry Deputy Prime Minister Thulisile Dladla to Taipei to receive Lai, who then flew directly from Taipei to Mbabane on May 2³. On May 1 of the same year, China granted zero-tariff treatment on 98% of tariff lines to 53 African countries, excluding only Eswatini⁴. The greatest variable in this diplomatic lifeline is whether Mswati’s successor can persuade a generation facing 56% youth unemployment to continue seeing Taiwan as a friend, a question even harder to answer than “how much money China will spend.”

The President Borrows a Plane

Did you know that at 9 a.m. on May 2, 2026, Lai Ching-te stepped off an Airbus A340 special aircraft loaned to him by Eswatini’s King Mswati III and landed at Mbabane Airport³?

That A340-313 was not Taiwan’s aircraft. It was a special aircraft under Eswatini’s royal household. Lai Ching-te’s visit had originally been scheduled to depart Taipei on April 22, but on April 21 it was urgently called off. Seychelles, Mauritius, and Madagascar simultaneously and without warning revoked the special aircraft’s flight permits. Analysts pointed to China’s economic coercion of the three African island states, producing an “aerial blockade”⁵.

Mswati’s move was direct: he sent Deputy Prime Minister Thulisile Dladla on his own royal special aircraft from Mbabane to Taipei, then had it carry Lai Ching-te from Taipei back to Eswatini in the early hours of May 2, arriving at 9 a.m. that same morning.

“The king of Eswatini lending Taiwan’s president a plane to break through China’s blockade” was the visit itself. The Wall Street Journal framed it as a “surprise visit,” while Al Jazeera’s headline read “despite China’s attempts to block trip”⁶. Taiwan’s Central News Agency also documented the process of arriving in Eswatini by special aircraft through its official channel.

On May 2, 2026, Lai Ching-te received military honors at Mbabane Airport. Photo: Office of the President, Republic of China. OGDL via the official presidential press release.

The arrival scene was simple but weighty: Prime Minister Russell Dlamini, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Pholile Shakantu, Taiwan’s ambassador to Eswatini Jeremy H.S. Liang, and Eswatini protocol officer Khandlela Mdluli personally greeted him. Lai received military honors and exchanged greetings one by one with personnel from Taiwan’s embassy in Eswatini and family members of Taiwan’s technical mission⁷. CNA’s official channel recorded the full arrival of Lai Ching-te in the Kingdom of Eswatini for a state visit.

The political subtext of that airport scene has to do with another September in 1968.

A Synchrony of One Birth Year

Mswati III, whose birth name is Makhosetive Dlamini, was born on April 19, 1968, in Swaziland, then still a British protectorate. Five months later, on September 6, Swaziland became independent and, in the same year, established diplomatic relations with the Republic of China¹⁸.

In other words, this king, now 58 years old, has a life that almost entirely overlaps with Taiwan-Eswatini diplomatic relations. When he was born, the relationship with Taiwan did not yet exist. By the time he was old enough to understand the world, it was already there. After he ascended the throne on April 25, 1986, at 18 years and six days old, becoming the world’s youngest reigning monarch⁹, he became the personified agent of that relationship.

The density of his visits to Taiwan is also striking. According to records from Taiwan’s embassy in Eswatini and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as of May 2024 Mswati III had visited Taiwan more than 17 times¹. October 1989, October 1997, October 1998, May 2000, July 2001, May 2004, June 2006, September 2007, May 2008, July 2010, October 2012, May 2013, May 2015, May 2016, June 2018, October 2022, May 2024: on average, once every two years. No other foreign leader in the world has visited Taiwan with the same frequency.

In an interview with BBC Chinese, National Chengchi University Institute of East Asian Studies professor Alan Hao Yang identified the key point: “Precisely because the king himself holds real power, as long as he is willing to maintain diplomatic relations, there will not be much domestic noise.”¹⁰

In other words, Taiwan’s last diplomatic lifeline in Africa hangs on one person. That is both its stability and its fragility.

Deliberately Skipping Eswatini

On May 1, 2026, the day before Lai Ching-te’s visit to Eswatini, China announced zero-tariff treatment on 98% of tariff lines for 53 African countries. Eswatini alone was excluded⁴¹¹.

This was “deliberately skipping.”

One country missing from 53 is, mathematically, only 52/53. Politically, it is a naked declaration: “Standing with Taiwan is the cost of isolation.” Storm Media, citing BBC Chinese analysis, spelled out the logic of this operation plainly¹¹. BBC News Chinese’s official channel also offered in-depth analysis of the cross-strait contest behind Lai Ching-te’s visit to Eswatini.

China’s history of poaching allies is not limited to this move. Over the past 30 years, 10 African countries have switched from Taiwan to Beijing, the two most recent being São Tomé and Príncipe in 2016 and Burkina Faso in 2018¹². In the same month that Burkina Faso cut ties, Tsai Ing-wen made her first visit to Eswatini, and Mswati publicly reaffirmed his commitment to diplomatic relations¹³. That was April 17 to 20, 2018.

In 2023, a subsidiary of Sinohydro won a US$146 million bid for Eswatini’s Pekisila Dam. Storm Media, citing BBC Chinese analysis, considered it an open probe of “infrastructure in exchange for diplomatic ties”¹¹. Mswati did not waver.

But what is the real pressure behind the four words “did not waver”? On January 15, 2024, Nauru, a small Pacific country with a population of only about 10,000, announced it was severing diplomatic relations with Taiwan, primarily because of China’s promise of long-term financial assistance². It was three days after Taiwan’s presidential election; Lai Ching-te had just been elected but had not yet taken office. The moment Nauru broke ties, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs changed Taiwan’s number of diplomatic allies from 13 to 12.

Eswatini became the last remaining piece in Africa.

Red-Fleshed Guava Enters SUPERSPAR

At a May 3 press conference, Lai Ching-te opened with a piece of fruit as his hook: “Red-fleshed guava bears witness to Taiwan-Eswatini friendship.”¹⁴

That guava was not a rhetorical device.

The TaiwanICDF agricultural technical mission in Eswatini has operated since 1969. It began as an early experiment in Taiwan’s agricultural diplomacy and is now known through the “Taiwan-Africa Vegetables Initiative (TAVI)” and the “Emerging Fruit Tree Production and Marketing Guidance Plan”¹⁵. What it concretely does is bring Taiwanese fruit varieties, including red-fleshed guava, dragon fruit, strawberries, and papaya, along with cultivation techniques, to Eswatini so local farmers can learn localized production.

In March 2024, Taiwanese-variety red-fleshed guava officially entered the Mbabane and Ezulwini branches of SUPERSPAR, Eswatini’s largest supermarket chain¹⁵. It took 55 years for a piece of fruit to move from a technical cooperation agreement, the first aid agreement in 1969¹, onto supermarket shelves.

During Lai’s visit to Eswatini, he brought that guava onto the press conference podium. What he wanted to say was: “This is what cooperation looks like.” Concrete, edible, and entering commercial distribution channels.

The evolution of aid projects is easier to understand from this angle. 1969 technical cooperation → 1984 agricultural technical cooperation → 2007 memorandum on medical cooperation → 2016 maternal and infant healthcare → 2018 economic cooperation agreement, which took effect in December of the same year → 2019 MOU on women’s economic empowerment → 2023 women’s entrepreneurship microcredit revolving fund, personally signed during Tsai Ing-wen’s 2023 visit to Eswatini → 2026 customs mutual assistance agreement¹⁷. Each agreement is a cross-section of the themes of its era: agriculture in the 1980s, medical care in the 2000s, women’s empowerment and economic and trade institutions in the 2010s, and industrial innovation and supply chains in the 2020s.

This experience of cooperation has slowly evolved along with each country’s circumstances, going beyond the static level of “diplomatic gifts.”

The 27% Prevalence Rate

But beyond agriculture and education, medical care is the heaviest and most concrete side of this relationship.

Eswatini’s HIV prevalence rate among adults aged 15 to 49 is 27.2%, the highest in the world¹⁶. Behind that number is a country where, without antiretroviral therapy (ART), an entire generation could have been erased.

Taiwan’s medical assistance is too thinly understood if framed only as “medical diplomacy.” The medical mission in Eswatini led by the Taipei Medical University system includes physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and administrative staff. Its work covers clinical services, personnel training, public health, medical education, and the introduction of smart healthcare¹⁵. Specific actions include helping Eswatini establish a national physician licensing examination and a general practitioner training system, completing the country’s first neurosurgery, having TMU physicians long serve as the only cardiology specialists in Eswatini’s public hospitals, and providing medical services to more than 10,000 patient visits annually. These are real actions with names, surgical records, and admission numbers, beyond the abstraction of “aid.”

In April 2025, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the donation of a CT scanner, a fundus camera, and a patient-monitoring simulator to Mbabane Government Hospital. Starting in 2026, Taiwan would assist in establishing an Eswatini version of HIS, a hospital information system modeled on Taiwan’s standards, and FIRE, the international case format for fast healthcare interoperability resources¹⁵.

The most concrete story came in January 2021. Mswati III contracted COVID-19, and Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen administration delivered antiviral medication to Eswatini through diplomatic channels. Foreign media speculated that it was remdesivir, though Mswati himself did not name the drug. He later publicly thanked Taiwan: “I recovered before I could even announce that I had been admitted to hospital.”¹⁷

“Diplomatic medicine” ceased to be abstract from that moment. This 58-year relationship includes one concrete life-saving event.

It was also because of the accumulation of long-term multilateral aid, including PEPFAR, the Global Fund, and Taiwan, that in 2020 Eswatini became one of the first African countries to reach the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets: 95% of people with HIV diagnosed, 95% of those diagnosed receiving treatment, and 95% of those on treatment achieving viral suppression¹⁸.

Military Honors at Mandvulo Grand Hall

On the morning of May 3, Lai Ching-te held bilateral talks with Mswati III at Mandvulo Grand Hall in Lozitha Royal Palace⁷.

On May 3, 2026, Lai Ching-te and Mswati III held bilateral talks at Mandvulo Grand Hall in Lozitha Royal Palace. Photo: Office of the President, Republic of China. OGDL via the official presidential press release.

The ceremony included the national anthems of both countries, a review of Eswatini’s honor guard, a gun salute, and traditional dance performances. After the meeting, two important documents were signed:

1. Joint communiqué: reaffirming “deep friendship, mutual trust, and shared values”
2. Agreement on Mutual Assistance in Customs Matters: signed by Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung and Eswatini’s Foreign Minister Pholile Shakantu⁷

On May 3, 2026, Taiwan and Eswatini signed the Agreement on Mutual Assistance in Customs Matters and a joint communiqué at Mandvulo Grand Hall. Photo: Office of the President, Republic of China. OGDL via the official presidential press release.

CNA’s official channel fully recorded Taiwan and Eswatini signing a joint communiqué to deepen cooperation.

Lai Ching-te’s core quotations, from the original English presidential press release:

“The Republic of China (Taiwan) is a sovereign country that belongs to the world.”

“No country has the right, nor should it obstruct Taiwan's contributions to the world.”

“Taiwan and Eswatini are steadfast allies, who have together weathered many ups and downs.”⁷

Mswati III’s response:

“We would like to assure you, as well as the government and people of Taiwan, that the Kingdom of Eswatini stands ready to support all the achievements Taiwan seeks, including its participation in the international community.”⁷

The weight of these quotations lies in who said them. When an absolute monarch publicly tells the head of state of another democratic country, in his own palace, that Taiwan is a “sovereign country,” the semantics are a direct counter-witness to China’s claim that no sovereign Taiwan exists. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs then called Lai Ching-te a “rat” and described the trip as “smuggling-style external separatist activities” and an “international laughingstock,” according to NBC News¹⁹. The U.S. State Department’s response was simpler: “Taiwan is a trusted and capable partner” and should not be politicized²⁰.

That afternoon, Lai visited the Royal Science and Technology Park to inspect two flagship bilateral cooperation projects: the Strategic Oil Reserve and the Taiwan Industrial Innovation Park (TIIP), with briefings from the Overseas Investment & Development Corporation and CECI Engineering Consultants, Inc., Taiwan²¹. Lai positioned the two as “the largest and most strategically significant cooperation projects since the two countries established diplomatic relations.” The “Strategic Oil Reserve” represents energy security and national resilience in response to risks and crises, while the “Taiwan Industrial Innovation Park” represents future-oriented industrial planning and development hopes: “the former safeguards stability, the latter creates growth”²².

This passage gave Lai’s discourse on the visit a concrete structure. CNA’s official channel also produced a feature report on Taiwan and Eswatini’s largest cooperation projects: the strategic significance of the oil reserve and industrial innovation park.

The 46 Lives of 2021

But this 58-year relationship contains one very heavy reality that must be faced directly.

On May 17, 2021, an Eswatini law student, Thabani Nkomonye, was suspected of having been killed by police, triggering nationwide protests. On June 20, about 500 young people marched in the streets of Manzini demanding democratic reforms. On June 25, the acting prime minister issued an order banning protests and the delivery of petitions. From June 28 to July 4, nationwide unrest broke out: buildings were burned, helicopters patrolled the skies, gunfire sounded day and night, and Human Rights Watch confirmed at least 46 deaths, while civil society estimates exceeded 100²³.

As of October 2025, HRW’s latest report confirmed that no member of the security forces had been held accountable²⁴.

This is the sharpest cost of “absolute monarchy,” and it is also a value contradiction Taiwan must face. Our only diplomatic ally in Africa is Africa’s last absolute monarchy, and in 2021 this regime suppressed its own people.

Writing this fact down will not harm diplomatic relations; it is what allows this article to stand. Taiwanese readers have the right to know that our “last ally” is a real country whose governance record includes violent suppression, an HIV tsunami, and 56% youth unemployment, according to 2023 figures²⁵. The diplomatic phrase “friendly small country” cannot contain it.

Mswati’s personal life is another structural contradiction. He and Queen Mother Ntfombi are among only about 12 absolute monarchs still existing in the world. Constitutionally, he has veto power over all branches of government and immunity from prosecution. Private jets and a fleet of Rolls-Royces, set against 30% of the population living below the poverty line, have long been a focus of international media criticism⁹.

We can hold two things at once: first, Taiwan’s aid has indeed saved lives through HIV treatment, agricultural cooperation, and medical missions; second, Eswatini’s governance problems are not “another country’s domestic affairs” that we should not care about.

After Mswati

The greatest variable in the future of Taiwan-Eswatini diplomatic relations is not, in fact, how much money China will spend.

It is whether Mswati’s successor can persuade a generation facing 56% youth unemployment, and no longer committed to absolute monarchy, to continue seeing Taiwan as a friend.

Over the past 30 years, China has poached 10 African countries from Taiwan. Every end to diplomatic ties has been a combined force of “financial temptation” and “local political demand.” But Eswatini differs from other diplomatic allies in one respect: it is not on the central battlefield of United Nations resolutions, unlike Pacific island countries directly tied to U.S.-China rivalry; the political cost of its foreign relations is borne relatively personally by the king; and Mswati’s individual will has so far been strong enough to withstand all pressure.

But that strength has a ceiling. Mswati was born in 1968 and is 58 in 2026. His succession will happen; the question is not “whether,” but “when.” The internal political environment his successor faces will be completely different from the one he faced at his coronation in 1986.

After the 46 lives lost in 2021, Eswatini’s younger generation has far less patience for “royal glory” than their parents did. HIV still occupies the health budget. Wages are squeezed by South Africa. Youth unemployment is close to 60%. These are internal pressures unfolding in the present tense, not merely predictions about “what will happen in the future.”

Lai Ching-te’s return route after this visit also revealed something about the current mood. On May 4, he departed Mbabane. The aircraft deliberately turned off identifying information and took a more southerly Indian Ocean route back to Taiwan via Indonesia and the Philippines, avoiding proximity to Chinese airspace and sensitive areas in the South China Sea. It arrived at Taoyuan Airport at 10:40 a.m. on May 5²⁶.

The circuitous route shows how tight the environment is. But the trip was completed.

A Guava and a Question

Return to that red-fleshed guava.

It moved from the 1969 technical cooperation agreement to SUPERSPAR’s supermarket shelves in 2024. In between were 55 years, at least seven Taiwanese presidents, from Chiang Ching-kuo, Lee Teng-hui, Chen Shui-bian, Ma Ying-jeou, Tsai Ing-wen, to Lai Ching-te, and Mswati III growing from five months old to 56.

It is concrete, edible, and probably costs the equivalent of a few dozen New Taiwan dollars per fruit.

That guava, the military honors at Mandvulo Grand Hall, the 46 lives lost in 2021, China’s precise operation of deliberately excluding Eswatini from zero-tariff treatment for 53 African countries on May 1, and the A340 special aircraft Mswati sent to Taipei to receive Lai are all different points along the same narrative line.

What it tells us is this: diplomatic relations reside in a body of concrete cooperation accumulated over 58 years, beyond the level of abstract diplomatic plaques. But it also tells us that when the day after Mswati arrives, has Taiwan accumulated enough relational depth “not dependent on one person” for this guava supply chain not to disappear along with one person’s position?

This question does not yet have an answer. But the existence of the question itself is Taiwan’s most honest posture when facing its “last ally” in 2026.

“The Republic of China (Taiwan) is a sovereign country that belongs to the world.” — Lai Ching-te at Mandvulo Grand Hall, May 3, 2026.

Africa’s last diplomatic lifeline hangs on one person. That is both its most moving aspect and the homework Taiwan’s diplomacy must prepare for over the next decade.

Further Reading:

• Taiwan’s Diplomatic Allies and International Diplomacy — The three-layer structure of 12 diplomatic allies vs. 113 overseas offices vs. 177 visa-free destinations, with Eswatini as the most critical African piece
• Lai Ching-te — From Tainan physician to president of the Republic of China, the evolution of Lai Ching-te’s foreign-relations discourse after taking office
• Tsai Ing-wen — The president who visited Eswatini twice, with 2018 and 2023 marking two stages in Taiwan-Eswatini diplomatic relations
• Sunflower Movement — How the streets of 2014 became the foundation for institutional foreign-facing discourse in 2024-2025
• The 2026 Cheng-Xi Meeting and the KMT-CCP Reunion After Ten Years — Cross-strait dynamics from the same period, providing the broader context for understanding China’s pressure on Taiwan
• Cognitive Warfare — A more systematic framework for China’s language operations, such as “rat” and “smuggling-style external separatist activities”
• Paraguay and Taiwan — Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in South America, another relationship sustained by long-term cooperation under Chinese pressure

Image Sources

This article uses three official press release photographs from the Office of the President, Republic of China, all cached in public/article-images/society/ to avoid hotlinking from the source server. License: Open Government Data License (OGDL).

• taiwan-eswatini-military-honor-2026.jpg (hero) — President Lai Ching-te receives Eswatini military honors at Mbabane Airport on May 2, 2026. Photo: Office of the President, Republic of China.
• taiwan-eswatini-mandvulo-summit-2026.jpg — Lai Ching-te and Mswati III hold bilateral talks at Mandvulo Grand Hall in Lozitha Royal Palace on May 3, 2026. Photo: Office of the President, Republic of China.
• taiwan-eswatini-joint-communique-2026.jpg — Taiwan and Eswatini sign the Agreement on Mutual Assistance in Customs Matters and a joint communiqué at Mandvulo Grand Hall on May 3, 2026. Photo: Office of the President, Republic of China.

References