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Cape Town, South Africa — <\/span>US-based organizers of the International Human Rights Conference said they canceled it days before it was due to open because China<\/a> Pressured African host countries to expel Taiwanese workers.<\/p>\n New York-based advocacy group Organizers Access Now said late Friday it had canceled the RightsCon summit in Zambia, which was scheduled to take place next week after the Zambian government initially said it was being postponed.<\/p>\n Access Now said it was informed by Zambian officials that the government was pressured by China over the conference “because Taiwanese civil society participants were planning to join us in person.” Access Now said it had pushed back against any move to exclude Taiwan’s representatives.<\/p>\n “We believe that RightsCon 2026 will not be able to go ahead in Zambia due to foreign interference,” Access Now said in a statement. <\/p>\n “What the government wanted from us to lift the moratorium was communicated to us informally from multiple sources: …we would have to moderate specific topics and exclude at-risk communities, including our Taiwanese participants, from in-person and online participation.”<\/p>\n The Zambian government had previously announced that it was postponing the conference because it wanted information on the topics and subjects of discussion to ensure that they aligned with the country’s “national values, policy priorities and broader public interest considerations”.<\/p>\n Zambia has largely strong political and economic ties with China. Chinese mining interests<\/a> In the mineral-rich southern African nation.<\/p>\n RightsCon is an annual conference that focuses on human rights and technology and deals with issues such as Internet censorship, electronic surveillance, and cyber warfare. Access Now said more than 2,600 participants were to take part in Zambia, with another 1,100 participants to take part online. He represented more than 150 countries.<\/p>\n Last year’s summit was held in Taiwan.<\/p>\n Lin Yi-jing, Taiwan’s digital affairs minister, said in a statement on Facebook on Saturday that canceling the summit showed China’s uneasiness over “the ideas of freedom, democracy and rule of law put forward by Taiwan and RightsCon.”<\/p>\n Human Rights Watch said Zambian authorities must explain their actions.<\/p>\n This move by the Zambian government comes just a week after Taiwan’s claim Beijing intervened<\/a> To prevent Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te from visiting Eswatini, another southern African country, on 22 April.<\/p>\n Taiwan said Lai’s visit to Eswatini, the only African country that maintains formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, was canceled after the Indian Ocean islands of Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles were pressured by China to withdraw permission for Lai’s plane to fly over their territory.<\/p>\n The Chinese Foreign Ministry praised the actions of the three countries and said that their “adherence to the one-China principle is in full compliance with international law.” <\/p>\n China Taiwan claims to be self-governing<\/a> As its own separate province, it would be taken back by force if necessary, and countries with which it has diplomatic relations would be prohibited from maintaining formal relations with Taipei. China has significant influence across Africa.<\/p>\n Taiwanese leader Lai made a surprise announcement on Saturday he arrived in eswatini<\/a> After the first trip was cancelled. This time, Lai did not publicly announce that he was travelling.<\/p>\n \u201cTaiwan will never fear external pressures,\u201d Lai wrote on X.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n AP journalist Johnson Lai in Taipei contributed.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n