Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te travelled to Eswatini (a small landlocked monarchy in southern Africa and the only African country with formal diplomatic ties to Taiwan) for a state visit, meeting King Mswati III for bilateral talks and signing a Customs Mutual Assistance Agreement. The visit comes as Beijing intensifies global pressure on nations to sever recognition of Taiwan, which the People's Republic of China claims as its own territory. Lai used the occasion to assert Taiwan's standing, declaring that no country has the right to prevent the self-ruled island from contributing to the world.