The Presidential Office yesterday denied a claim that President William Lai’s (賴清德) charter flight was never granted overflight permissions for his trip to Eswatini, calling the claim “rumor mongering.”
Lai was on Wednesday scheduled to leave for Eswatini, Taiwan’s sole diplomatic ally in Africa, but the trip was canceled after Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar abruptly rescinded overflight permissions for his chartered plane under “strong pressure” from China, Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) said on Tuesday.
National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said that the government had obtained overflight clearance from all countries on the flight’s way to Eswatini, but the three island countries rescinded them without explanation “only in recent days.”
Photo: Taipei Times
However, a report by Mauritian newspaper L’Express cited an unnamed source as saying Mauritian authorities had not granted any authorization to Taiwan.
“Nothing would be done that could jeopardize Sino-Mauritian relations,” the newspaper quoted an adviser at the Mauritian prime minister’s office as saying.
Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said the airline operating Lai’s charter flight had completed overflight permit procedures for Mauritius and other countries in the middle of the month.
Claims that the flight had not applied for or received such permissions are untrue, she said.
“If anyone deliberately uses the name of a third country pressured by Beijing to fabricate stories and distort the facts, that is highly inappropriate and clearly rumor-mongering,” she added.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Chen Ming-chi (陳明祺) said Taiwan has established a long-term friendship with Eswatini and that diplomatic ties remain intact.
“The Chinese Communist Party has long leveraged neighboring countries and built influence in Africa, including by buying support. All of this makes our long- term friendship with Eswatini all the more valuable,” he said, adding that Taiwan has spared no effort in providing the southern African country with assistance.
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