President Lai Ching-te’s (賴清德) trip to Eswatini has been postponed last-minute after three countries – Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar – revoked the president’s flight permits without warning under pressure from Beijing. President Lai was supposed to leave Thursday, April 23, on his second overseas trip since taking office at the invitation of Estwatini’s King Mswati III. Now, for security reasons, the trip has been postponed, with plans for a special envoy to be appointed instead.

The proposed visit was meant to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s ascension as well as his 58th birthday, and would have included high-level meetings with officials on areas of future cooperation, ceremonial events, and a banquet for overseas Taiwanese in Eswatini and Southern Africa.

Tuesday evening, however, the day before the trip, the Presidential Office announced through an emergency press conference that the flight and trip would be postponed over security concerns. Presidential Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) explained that the permits for Lai’s flight were canceled by Seychelles, Mauritius, and Madagascar, without prior warning, after what is currently understood to be pressure from China – possibly via economic coercion.

Pan strongly condemned the actions, saying that not only is such coercion unprecedented, but also constitutes blatant interference in the internal affairs of other countries, and disruption of the regional status quo.

The secretary-general underscored that the Republic of China (Taiwan) is a sovereign state, with the right to engage with other nations. He said no country has the right or ability to interfere with Taiwan’s foreign diplomacy, and thanked like-minded countries for their assistance negotiating related matters.