What Eswatini risks by standing with Taiwan

What Eswatini risks by standing with Taiwan

From Focus on Africa by BBC World Service

May 5, 2026 · 23 min

About this episode

The episode discusses Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te's visit to Eswatini and its implications amidst China's influence, along with an interview with musician Stonebwoy about his global music festival.

Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te has finally visited Eswatini where his arrival had been expected since April. The state visit was cancelled last minute, and Taiwan blames China - saying Beijing applied pressure on African countries not to allow the plane carrying President Ching-te to use their airspace on the way to the Kingdom of Eswatini. We look at the significance of this visit and Taiwan's diplomatic ties to the Southern Africa kingdom. Also, we have a fire chat with Ghanian musician Stonebwoy, whose Accra-famous music festival known as BHIM is going global, headlining at the OVO Wembley Arena in London this August. Presenter : Charles Gitonga Producer: Rukia Bulle, Blessing Aderogba and Mark Wilberforce Technical Producer: Maxwell Onyango Senior Producer: Bella Twine Editors: Priyanka Sippy and Maryam Abdalla

People in this episode

Host: Charles Gitonga

Guest: Stonebwoy

Topics covered

  • Taiwan-Eswatini relations
  • diplomatic ties
  • China's influence
  • African politics
  • music festival
  • global music

Keywords

  • Eswatini
  • Taiwan
  • China
  • Stonebwoy
  • music festival
  • diplomatic relations
  • Southern Africa
  • OVO Wembley Arena

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Taiwan, China, OVO Wembley Arena

Places: Eswatini, London, Accra

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