00:00Taiwan President Lai Ching-te visits Eswatini, a small country in southern Africa, to the
00:05dismay of Beijing. Lai tells Eswatini's king Taiwan has a right to engage with the world
00:10and no country can stop that. Lai's office calls the trip a state visit. Beijing tried
00:15to stop the visit, condemning Lai as a quote, rat. Last month, Taiwan said China had forced
00:21three Indian Ocean countries to pull overflight permission for Lai's aircraft to travel to
00:25Eswatini for the 40th anniversary of its king. Lai arrived on board an Eswatini government
00:31aircraft. No announcement of the trip was made by Taiwan or Eswatini beforehand.
00:35China views democratically-governed Taiwan as part of its territory with no right to
00:40state-to-state ties and demands other countries stop any engagements with the island. But Taiwan
00:45says Lai did not need Beijing's permission to go anywhere. Eswatini is one of only 12 countries
00:50cities with formal ties with Taipei.
Comments