President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday met with a visiting delegation led by Thulisile Dladla, deputy prime minister of Eswatini in Southern Africa, and expressed hope for increased collaborations between the two countries.
Relations between Taiwan, formally known as the Republic of China, and Eswatini have lasted over five decades, through various collaborations on agriculture, economics and trade, education and healthcare, among other fields, Lai said at the meeting at the Presidential Office.
He added that he looked forward to seeing more partnership between the two sides, which established formal ties in 1968, in all areas.
Photo: CNA
In the face of growing threats from authoritarian regimes, Taiwan and Eswatini should continue to support each other on the international stage, Lai said, while also thanking the African nation for its backing of Taiwan’s efforts to take part in international organizations.
Meanwhile, Dladla, who arrived in Taiwan on Monday for a five-day visit upon Taipei’s invitation, lauded Taiwan’s assistance in building Eswatini’s infrastructure and promoting national development as "life-changing."
"We offer our eternal gratitude, our unwavering support, and our unbreakable commitment to this great partnership [between the two sides]," added Dladla, who previously served as Eswatini’s top diplomat from 2018 to 2023.
Eswatini, a landlocked country in Southern Africa, is Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in Africa, and one of the last absolute monarchies in the world that has been ruled by King Mswati III since 1986.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS