00:00International reactions are pouring in after President Lai Qingde called off his trip to African ally Eswatini at the last
00:07minute, citing Chinese pressure.
00:08Now, our reporter Leslie Liao has been following the developments and joins us live from our newsroom.
00:14Leslie, what happened to the president's trip?
00:19Well, Jeremy, just hours before President Lai Qingde was scheduled to board a charter flight to Eswatini,
00:25Taiwan's only ally and diplomatic ally in Africa, the trip was called off.
00:31Now, officials say that three African island nations along Lai's projected flight path, that is Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar,
00:39suddenly revoked flight privileges for Lai's flight through their airspace.
00:44These officials say that China used economic coercion to pressure these countries into doing so.
00:50Now, after lengthy evaluations, Taiwan's security officials decided that in the interest of the president's safety, it was best to
00:58postpone the trip.
00:59Now, it's worth mentioning that China has dozens of development projects in these three countries.
01:05Both Seychelles and Madagascar told Reuters that it did not grant Lai's plane overflight privileges because they did not recognize
01:14Taiwan's sovereignty,
01:15a move that China praised Taiwan's foreign ministry has condemned these countries for their actions.
01:38Now, Beijing has long tried to limit Taiwan's interactions with its diplomatic allies,
01:43but putting restrictions on international airspace, that is something that the presidential office is calling unprecedented.
01:51Lai's predecessor, Cai Ing-wen, visited Eswatini as recently as 2023.
01:56But if these three countries persist in their decision to restrict official Taiwanese flights through their airspace,
02:03that will make future presidential visits to the region extremely difficult.
02:09So, Leslie, what kind of reaction have we seen to the cancellation of Lai's trip so far?
02:17Well, Jeremy, global politicians have been criticizing Beijing's actions.
02:22An alliance of lawmakers from 45 nations called IPAC accused Beijing of using economic coercion,
02:31coordinated coercion against African allies to block Lai's trip.
02:35Now, some U.S. lawmakers also called Beijing's weaponization of aviation safety reckless and dangerous.
02:42The European Union also expressed concern telling Taiwan's central news agency that overflight rights are a cornerstone of civil aviation
02:51and that they should not be used to achieve political goals.
02:54Domestically, the smaller opposition Taiwan People's Party has slammed Beijing for exerting pressure.
03:00Meanwhile, the main opposition, Guo Mingdeng, has taken a milder stance,
03:05calling on Beijing to exercise restraint and to give Taiwan sufficient diplomatic space.
03:12Thanks, Leslie.
03:13That was Leslie Liao live from our Taipei newsroom.
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