Who Controls the Sky
Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te said he arrived in the African nation of Eswatini on Saturday, days after his government was forced to push back the trip when several countries withdrew permission for him to fly over their territories reportedly over Chinese pressure. The route itself became a reminder that state power does not stop at borders on a map; it reaches into airspace, permits, and the bureaucratic choke points that decide who gets to move and who gets stalled.
In a post on X, Lai said he arrived in Eswatini, Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in Africa, to “affirm our longstanding friendship.” He said Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy that China considers part of its territory, “will never be deterred by external pressures.” Taiwan did not announce the latest plans of Lai’s Eswatini visit before his arrival.
Pressure, Permits, and the Usual Machinery
Lai was originally scheduled to visit the southern African country from April 22, but Taiwanese officials said flight permits were revoked by Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar over “strong pressure from the Chinese authorities, including economic coercion.” The trip was delayed until Saturday after careful arrangements by his diplomatic and national security teams, according to Lai in a separate Facebook post.
Lai said the visit will further deepen the friendship between Taiwan and Eswatini through closer economic, agricultural, cultural and educational ties. “Our resolve & commitment are underpinned by the understanding that Taiwan will continue to engage with the world — no matter the challenges faced,” Lai wrote on X. The language is all diplomacy and resolve, but the facts underneath are plain enough: access, recognition, and movement are being managed by competing state apparatuses, with smaller actors forced to navigate the pressure.
The Bigger Power Play
A spokesperson of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement shortly after Lai posted on social media about his visit that he was “performing a laughable stunt in front of the world,” and referred to him being “smuggled” out of Taiwan. The ministry said Lai’s “undignified act” and visit “will always be a losing cause and nothing will ever change the fact that Taiwan is part of China.” It added, “We urge Eswatini and some other individual countries to see where the arc of history bends and stop serving as the prop of ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists.”
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry hit back, saying Lai’s trip was conducted “in accordance with international law, international norms, diplomatic practices” and Taiwan’s regulations. The ministry said Lai’s arrival in Eswatini was only announced after he landed safely, a precaution which it said had numerous international precedents. The two governments, and the larger powers around them, speak in the polished language of law and norms while the actual contest is over recognition, leverage, and who gets to define reality.
China has not ruled out using force to take control of Taiwan and has sought to block other countries from maintaining formal diplomatic ties with Taipei. That pressure has concrete consequences far beyond the rhetoric. Eswatini became the only African country excluded from tariff-free access to China’s market because of its ties to Taiwan. In 2023, Tsai Ing-wen was the most recent previous Taiwanese president to visit Eswatini, the small, landlocked nation with a population of around 1.2 million.
On Friday, Taiwan’s government expressed concern after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a phone call that Taiwan is the “biggest risk” when it comes to relations between Beijing and Washington. The warning landed in the same week that Lai’s trip had to be delayed by revoked overflight permissions, a neat little demonstration of how the powerful keep ordinary movement and diplomacy on a short leash.