China Steps Up Pressure on Taiwan’s Last African Ally as Beijing Orders Citizens Out of Eswatini
China has told its citizens to leave Eswatini immediately, escalating a diplomatic standoff over Taiwan’s last remaining ally on the African continent and adding a new front to Beijing’s long-running campaign to isolate Taipei internationally. The advisory, issued by the Department of Consular Affairs under China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs through a WeChat post, describes Eswatini’s security situation as complex, citing what it calls rampant online fraud and illegal gambling activity along with an extremely high public-safety risk. Chinese nationals already in the country were urged to leave as soon as possible or relocate to what the ministry described as relatively safer areas, specifically pointing to neighboring South Africa.
The timing of the advisory is difficult to separate from the broader diplomatic tension that’s been building between Beijing and the tiny southern African kingdom since Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, traveled there in May. Eswatini, a small enclave nation formerly known as Swaziland, is one of just 12 countries in the world that still formally recognize Taiwan, and it stands as the only one left on the African continent. Since the Democratic Progressive Party came to power in Taipei in 2016, China has methodically worked to peel away Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic partners, often pairing that diplomatic pressure with infrastructure financing and investment aimed at persuading smaller, less developed nations to switch recognition to Beijing instead.
Lai’s visit to Eswatini didn’t go smoothly even before he arrived. The trip had originally been scheduled for late April, timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession to the throne, but Taiwan’s presidential office said the visit had to be postponed after Seychelles, Mauritius, and Madagascar all abruptly withdrew previously granted overflight permission along the planned flight route. Pan Meng-an, secretary-general to Taiwan’s president, described the cancellations as the result of intense pressure from Chinese authorities, including what he characterized as economic coercion directed at the three island nations. Beijing’s foreign ministry, for its part, praised the countries involved for what it called their adherence to the one-China principle, framing the decision as fully consistent with international law rather than acknowledging any pressure campaign.
Lai ultimately did make the trip to Eswatini in early May, though Taiwan’s government didn’t disclose publicly how he actually got there, and the visit only became public knowledge after the fact. Following the trip, China’s foreign ministry took a notably sharp tone, describing Lai as having become what it called an international laughing stock, language that underscored just how seriously Beijing views any diplomatic engagement between Taiwan’s leadership and its remaining allies. Beijing has also used economic leverage more directly in the aftermath of the visit. On May 1, China extended a zero-tariff trade policy to every African country except Eswatini, a deliberate exclusion widely read as a punitive signal aimed at pressuring Mbabane to reconsider its diplomatic alignment.
The new travel advisory adds another layer to that pressure campaign, though China has framed it strictly in terms of citizen safety rather than diplomatic strategy. The specific concerns cited, cyber fraud and illegal online gambling operations, aren’t entirely without basis. Eswatini’s government has previously acknowledged raids on suspected illegal gambling centers in the capital, Mbabane, and surrounding areas, with dozens of foreign nationals arrested during operations earlier this year. Reports indicate a group of individuals detained during those March raids were later released on orders from Eswatini’s High Court after their lawyers argued the detentions were unlawful following guilty pleas and paid fines on immigration-related offenses, though their subsequent re-arrest has added further legal complexity to the situation. It remains unclear exactly how many Chinese nationals currently live or work in Eswatini, and the Eswatini government has not yet issued a public response to Beijing’s evacuation advisory.
- China has advised its citizens to leave Eswatini due to alleged security risks, citing cyber fraud and gambling-related crimes.
- The advisory follows Eswatini’s crackdown on illegal online gambling operations, which led to the arrest and disputed re-arrest of dozens of Chinese nationals.
- Eswatini is Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in Africa, making its relationship with Taipei strategically important amid growing China-Taiwan tensions.
- Earlier this year, Taiwan accused China of trying to disrupt its president’s visit to Eswatini, further straining diplomatic relations.
What makes this episode notable within the broader context of China-Taiwan diplomatic competition is how directly it ties civilian safety messaging to a geopolitical objective. China has used various forms of pressure against Taiwan’s remaining allies before, ranging from investment incentives to more overt forms of economic coercion, but explicitly advising its own citizens to evacuate a country over stated security concerns, issued just months after a high-profile presidential visit from Taipei, reads as a more pointed signal than a routine travel warning. Whether the advisory reflects genuine, escalating concern about crime and safety conditions in Eswatini, or functions primarily as another pressure point in Beijing’s broader campaign to isolate Taiwan diplomatically, is likely to remain a matter of interpretation, particularly given China’s history of applying calibrated economic and diplomatic pressure against Taipei’s dwindling list of formal partners.
Eswatini’s government has previously made clear it has no intention of abandoning its relationship with Taiwan despite the mounting pressure. Officials have publicly accused Beijing of playing what they’ve called mind games over the diplomatic standoff, and following the cancellation of Lai’s original travel plans in April, Eswatini’s government issued a statement expressing regret that the president wasn’t able to visit as scheduled while stressing that the disruption did not change the status of the two countries’ longstanding bilateral relationship. That posture puts the small kingdom in an increasingly uncomfortable position, caught between a Chinese government determined to eventually secure full diplomatic recognition from every African state and its own long-standing commitment to Taiwan, one of Eswatini’s most significant sources of foreign aid and development assistance over several decades.
For Taiwan, retaining Eswatini as its final African ally carries symbolic weight well beyond the practical diplomatic and economic relationship the two governments maintain. Taipei’s list of formal diplomatic partners has steadily shrunk over the years, most recently with Nauru switching recognition to Beijing in early 2024 following similar moves by Honduras and Nicaragua in preceding years, leaving Taiwan with formal ties to just a dozen countries, most of them smaller nations scattered across Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. Losing Eswatini would eliminate Taiwan’s presence in Africa entirely, making the outcome of this standoff a meaningful data point in the broader, decades-long contest between Beijing and Taipei over international recognition. For continued coverage of major geopolitical and diplomatic developments across Africa and Asia, readers can follow ongoing reporting on Techchora.
Further background on Taiwan’s diplomatic relationships is available through Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and updates on China’s foreign policy statements can be tracked through the official website of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
