Next month, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen will travel to Eswatini, the island’s sole ally in Africa, to strengthen ties, her office announced on Friday.
According to her spokeswoman Olivia Lin, Tsai will go to Eswatini on September 5 and take part in events honoring the African country’s independence day and King Mswati III’s birthday while there.
Before departing for Taipei on September 8, she will have a meeting with the king, tour a nearby hospital, and see some initiatives supported by Taiwan.
The visit, according to Lin, is intended to improve relations and demonstrates the value Taiwan places on its “staunch ally” Eswatini.
Only 13 nations, including Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, formally recognize Taiwan over China, which regards the independent island as part of its own territory.
In addition, Burkina Faso, Taiwan’s last diplomatic ally in Africa, switched from Taipei to Beijing in 2018.
Since Tsai took office in 2016, as relations between the two countries deteriorated, China has abducted nine of Taiwan’s diplomatic friends.
Additionally, it has increased military pressure.
It staged military drills to mimic the island’s encirclement in April, following Tsai’s meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California.
On Friday, as Tsai’s trip to Africa was being publicized, Taiwan’s defense ministry reported that 22 Chinese warplanes had been spotted flying over the island since 7 a.m. (2300 GMT on Thursday).
13 of them, according to the ministry, either entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) or crossed the strait’s median line, dividing it from mainland China.
It claimed that the aircraft and five warships engaged in a “joint combat patrol” in the vicinity of Taiwan.
After Taiwan’s Vice President Lai Ching-te returned from a trip to Paraguay with two stops in the US, Beijing also held military maneuvers earlier this month and forbade mango imports from the island.
