Taiwan’s Only Friend in Africa Skips Chinese Leader’s Big Summit
- Eswatini is one of Taiwan’s few remaining international allies
- Beijing expects the African kingdom to make ‘right decision’
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When Xi Jinping was wooing leaders from across Africa with a banquet on Wednesday night, King Mswati III of Eswatini was notably absent.
That’s because the kingdom — about the size of New Jersey and with just 1.2 million people — is one of Taiwan’s remaining dozen diplomatic allies. That means Eswatini doesn’t participate in Xi’s Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, a centerpiece of China’s diplomatic outreach to Africa, which is being held in Beijing this week.