TAIPEI šC Taiwan has a right to engage with the world and no country can stop that, President Lai Ching-te told Eswatini's king after ?he arrived for a surprise trip that Taipei says Beijing tried to ?stop, as ?China condemned him as a "rat."
China views democratically governed Taiwan as ?part of its territory with no right to state-to-state ties, a position Taiwan's government strongly disputes, and Beijing has demanded countries stop any engagements with the island.
Last ?month, Taiwan said China had forced three Indian Ocean countries to pull overflight permission for ?Lai's aircraft to travel to the small southern African kingdom of Eswatini for the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III's accession. It ?is one of only 12 countries ?with formal ties with Taipei.
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