China urges an Eswatini exit as Xi heads for Bishkek and Cairo
Beijing advised its citizens to leave Eswatini, Taiwan's only diplomatic partner in Africa, citing security risks linked to cyber fraud and gambling. In the same week, Xi Jinping prepared to travel to Bishkek for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit and then to Cairo for his first state visit in a decade. One move concerns a country outside Beijing's diplomatic network; the other works through its partnerships.
Geopolitics··Evening
Beijing told its citizens to leave Eswatini
China's foreign ministry advised its citizens in Eswatini to move as soon as possible to relatively safer countries such as neighbouring South Africa. Without providing details, it cited widespread cyber fraud and gambling-related crime and said anyone who insisted on staying faced extremely high security risks. Eswatini is one of 12 countries, and the only one in Africa, that maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory. The number of Chinese citizens living or working in the kingdom is unknown.[1]
Forty Chinese citizens were detained again
The Times of Eswatini reported that 40 Chinese citizens were detained again while trying to leave and have been held since last month. They were first arrested in March during raids on alleged illegal online-gambling centres in and around Mbabane. Their lawyers said the group had pleaded guilty to immigration offences, paid the court-imposed fines and been released under High Court orders, making the later detention unlawful. Beijing's public advisory did not present those detentions as a direct diplomatic reason for the warning.[1]
Xi's route runs from Bishkek to Cairo
Xi Jinping will visit Kyrgyzstan from 30 August to 3 September and attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek. He is expected to discuss cooperation with members including Russia and Iran and meet Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov. Xi will then travel to Egypt for talks with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, his first state visit to the country in ten years. China's foreign ministry described the Egyptian leg as having special significance for the development of bilateral relations.[2]
