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taipei, taiwan– <\/span>Taiwanese President Lai Ching-tey said he arrived in the African country of Eswatini on Saturday, days after his government was forced to postpone the trip when several countries reportedly withdrew permission to fly over their territories due to Chinese pressure.<\/p>\n In a post on X, Lai said that he has come eswatini<\/a> \u2013 Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in Africa \u2013 “to reaffirm our long-term friendship.” He said Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy that China considers part of its territory, “will never fear external pressures.”<\/p>\n 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 due to “strong pressure from Chinese authorities, including economic pressure”.<\/p>\n In a separate Facebook post on Saturday, Lai wrote that the visit was possible after careful arrangements by his diplomatic and national security teams. He said the visit will deepen the friendship between Taiwan and Eswatini through closer economic, agricultural, cultural and educational ties.<\/p>\n \u201cOur resolution & The commitment is based on the understanding that Taiwan will continue to engage with the world \u2013 no matter what challenges it faces,\u201d Lai wrote on X. Taiwan did not announce the latest plans for Lai’s visit to Eswatini before his arrival.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement shortly after Lai posted on social media about his trip that he was “pulling a ridiculous stunt in front of the world,” and referred to him being “smuggled” from Taiwan.<\/p>\n Lai’s “indecent act” and visit “will always cause harm and will never change the fact that Taiwan is part of China,” the ministry said. “We urge Eswatini and some other individual countries to look at where the wheel of history bends and stop acting as supporters of ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists.”<\/p>\n China has not ruled out the use of force<\/a> Seeks to control Taiwan and prevent other countries from maintaining formal diplomatic relations with Taipei. <\/p>\n In 2023, Tsai Ing-wen was the most recent Taiwanese president to visit Eswatini, a small, landlocked country with a population of about 1.2 million. eswatini became The only African country excluded from tariff-free access<\/a> In the Chinese market due to its ties to Taiwan. <\/p>\n