Taiwan president leaves for visit to last African ally Eswatini

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen left on Tuesday for a visit to Eswatini, Taipei’s last African ally, saying the island will continue to confidently engage with the world and show it is a force for good.
Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory with no right to state-to-state relations, now has formal ties with only 13 countries, almost all small, less developed nations in Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific, like Belize and Nauru.
In March, Honduras ended decades of ties with Taiwan.
Tsai, speaking at the airport before leaving, said Eswatini was a “familiar old friend”.
Tsai is in Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, from Sept. 5-7 for the 55th anniversary of the country’s independence, and also marking 55 years of bilateral relations.
Eswatini is almost entirely surrounded by South Africa, which Chinese President Xi Jinping visited last month