Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te cancelled his planned five-day visit to Eswatini on 21 April after three African nations revoked overflight permits for his aircraft at China’s request. It is the first time a Taiwanese president has had to cancel a foreign trip entirely because of airspace denial.

Why it matters: The incident demonstrates Beijing’s willingness to weaponise debt leverage over small nations to isolate Taiwan. For Africa, it raises questions about sovereignty when economic dependence on China translates into political compliance.

How it unfolded

Lai was scheduled to depart Taipei on the morning of 22 April for a state visit to Eswatini, Taiwan’s last remaining diplomatic partner in Africa. Less than 12 hours before takeoff, Seychelles, Mauritius, and Madagascar withdrew overflight clearance for the presidential charter.

Taiwan’s National Security Council said the revocations appeared coordinated to inflict maximum disruption. The flight route over the Indian Ocean required transit through at least one of the three countries’ airspace.

China’s leverage

A senior Taiwan security official told Reuters that Beijing threatened to revoke debt relief and impose economic sanctions on the three nations if they permitted the flight. All three are recipients of Chinese development loans and infrastructure financing.

China’s Foreign Ministry praised the governments for “upholding the one-China principle” and called the cancelled visit a “natural consequence” of Taiwan’s diplomatic isolation.

International response

The US State Department criticised the three African countries for yielding to China’s political demands. Representative Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin urged the White House to sanction Madagascar, Seychelles, and Mauritius for restricting a democratic leader’s travel.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers from the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China called the airspace denials “a dangerous precedent for the coercion of sovereign nations.”

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said it would reschedule the Eswatini visit and was exploring alternative flight routes, including longer paths that avoid the three countries’ airspace.

Eswatini’s position

Eswatini is one of only 12 countries worldwide that maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan rather than China. The kingdom reaffirmed its ties with Taipei following the cancellation and invited Lai to visit as soon as logistics allow.

The cancellation comes at a sensitive time. China dropped all tariffs on 53 African nations from 1 May, part of an economic engagement strategy that contrasts sharply with the coercive tactics used against Taiwan’s transit countries.