WHO coronavirus meeting highlights Taipei’s last African ally eSwatini

Despite pressure from Beijing the tiny country of 1.3 million people in southern Africa has maintained diplomatic ties
The monarchy was one of 14 formal allies to support Taipei’s bid to rejoin the World Health Assembly on Monday

China-Africa relations

Jevans Nyabiage

Published: 5:15pm, 21 May 2020

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Taiwan may have missed critical support from African countries in its latest bid to rejoin the World Health Organisation’s decision-making body as an observer, but one tiny nation stood by its long-time ally.

The southern African nation eSwatini – which dropped its colonial-era name of Swaziland two years ago – was among 14 countries which expressed support for the self-ruled island to participate in the World Health Assembly on Monday. The country devoted most of its speech to the virtual gathering making a case for Taiwan.

China, which considers Taiwan a breakaway province, was the main opponent of the proposal led by Belize, chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, and supported by Taipei’s remaining diplomatic allies at the assembly. Belize said via video link that Taiwan had “much to share regarding its success in containing the spread of Covid-19, notwithstanding its proximity to the source of the outbreak”.

The US, whose relations with Beijing have turned sour, said Taiwan needed to participate as an observer “to bring a helpful perspective regarding their effective and exemplary response”. Other informal allies which openly supported Taiwan’s endeavour included New Zealand, Australia and Japan. Taipei withdrew its bid before a vote was taken.

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Shelley Rigger, a senior fellow in the Asia Programme at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a think tank based in Philadelphia, said the issue of Taiwan’s participation in the assembly was not new but “may be a little more prominent this year because of deteriorating relations between China and the US”.

Rigger, who is also a professor of East Asian politics at Davidson College in North Carolina, said: “I think an equally big reason it’s getting more attention is other countries’ desire to learn from Taiwan’s successful response to Covid-19.”

The support of eSwatini, an absolute monarchy of more than 1.3 million citizens, highlighted its position as the only African country to maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Since the 1990s, when Beijing aggressively moved into the continent in search of raw materials and markets, it has successfully wooed away every other ally of Taipei’s in Africa.

South Africa, the continent’s most developed economy, ditched Taipei for Beijing in 1994, when Nelson Mandela became president. In 2016, The Gambia switched allegiance, along with the Central African island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe. Burkina Faso cut ties with Taipei for the second time in 2018. It last did so in 1973, before resuming relations in 1994.

Beijing has poured billions of dollars into the continent over the past decade as part of its Belt and Road Initiative, building motorways, ports, dams and railways as part of its effort to expand its trading links, and influence, around the globe.

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Figures from the China Africa Research Initiative at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington indicate China advanced more than US$143 billion to 49 African governments and their state-owned companies between 2000 and 2017. But no loans went to eSwatini.

Beijing has threatened to cripple the southern African country’s two-way trade with China – which in 2018 stood at US$63.9 million – if its monarch Mswati III continues to recognise Taipei.

In February, China reportedly threatened to cut business ties with eSwatini if it maintained diplomatic relations with the island. Former Chinese ambassador to Pretoria Lin Songtian published a strongly-worded statement threatening, “no diplomatic relations, no more business benefits”.

Taipei responded by saying its ties with eSwatini remained stronger than ever. Its foreign affairs ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou issued a statement which said eSwatini had “reiterated its firm intentions to deepen its diplomatic relations with Taiwan, even in the face of pressure from China”.

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At the beginning of May, Taipei sent four doctors and a consignment of medical supplies to help its African ally fight the coronavirus pandemic which, as of May 19, had infected 208 people and killed two in eSwatini. “We are proud to count on Taiwan as a reliable friend for the past 52 years,” said Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini.

Taipei’s ambassador to eSwatini’s capital Mbabane Jeremy Liang said: “The arrival of the doctors signifies the perfect relationship between our two countries. We are willing to share with our best friends, the kingdom of eSwatini. We believe we will make a difference.”

Dr Jonathan Sullivan, director of China programmes at the University of Nottingham, said the connections between eSwatini and Taiwan had “proven many doubters wrong, who were predicting that China would erase all Taiwan’s allies in Africa”.

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Sullivan said if Taipei was to lose eSwatini – and its formal footprint in Africa – it would be a blow “but, at the end of the day, the continuation of Taiwan’s de facto autonomy will be determined by the support it garners from informal allies like the US and Japan, and so cultivating and maintaining that support should be the priority”.

Rigger said eSwatini would need to look at what benefits China would provide before it made any change in its diplomatic relations. The way China structures and carries out assistance and investment in Africa has been controversial, she said, with some countries benefiting, but others not so much.

“We also know that China is not giving away free money – it is restructuring, but not forgiving, debt. It is up to eSwatini’s people and leaders to decide whether this is an arrangement that makes sense for their country,” she said.

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