Three incidents earlier this year showed how far some African governments were willing to go to support China’s pressure campaign against Taiwan. In April, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te was forced to abruptly postpone his trip to Eswatini, the island’s last remaining diplomatic ally on the continent after Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar revoked his aircraft’s overflight permits the night before departure, citing adherence to the “One China” principle—Beijing’s position that only the People’s Republic of China is the legitimate government representing all of China, including Taiwan. Lai ultimately completed the visit the following week, arriving aboard King Mswati III’s private jet.
Later that month, the world’s largest digital rights conference, RightsCon, which was set to convene more than 2,600 in-person participants in Zambia, was abruptly canceled by Zambian authorities at the last minute. The conference’s organizers subsequently said they were told by Zambian officials that Chinese diplomats had pressured the government due to the planned attendance of Taiwanese civil society activists.
Then, in June, two Taiwanese delegates were detained for several hours by Kenyan immigration officers and expelled from the Our Ocean Conference the country was hosting, despite Taiwanese attendees having previously attended the conference in other locales without incident since 2015.