China Likens Taiwan's President to "Rat Crossing the Street"

(MENAFN) China has unleashed a scathing attack on Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te, likening him to a "rat crossing the street" following his covert trip to the small southern African kingdom of Eswatini aboard a government aircraft — a visit Beijing views as a direct affront to its one-China principle.

The sharp rebuke came from China's Taiwan Affairs Office on Saturday, after Lai completed an unannounced state visit to one of Taiwan's dwindling number of formal diplomatic allies. The trip had originally been slated for late April but was abruptly scrapped after the Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar withdrew overflight permits for the Taiwanese leader's charter plane — a decision Taipei squarely attributed to Chinese diplomatic pressure.

Undeterred, Lai circumvented the blockade by quietly boarding an Eswatini government aircraft to complete the journey. Eswatini — formerly Swaziland — is among just 12 nations that maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taipei, and stands as the island's only remaining ally on the African continent. The landlocked nation is home to fewer than 1.3 million people.

China's Taiwan Affairs Office labeled Lai a "troublemaker" and accused him of abandoning Taiwan's population in the aftermath of a major earthquake to make the trip.

"Lai Ching-te's despicable actions, like a rat crossing the street, will inevitably be ridiculed by the international community... Lai Ching-te's disregard for the safety of the people and his wanton deception of the public will surely be spurned by the vast majority of Taiwanese compatriots. The so-called 'diplomatic achievements' that Lai Ching-te painstakingly fabricated are nothing but trickery and a laughing stock," the body charged.

Lai fired back on X, asserting that Taiwan "will never be deterred by external pressures," and pledging that the island "will continue to engage with the world – no matter the challenges faced."

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council also struck a defiant tone, dismissing Beijing's condemnation as "fishwife's gutter talk" which it said was "boring in the extreme."

China regards Taiwan as part of its sovereign territory and has long pursued what it frames as peaceful reunification — though in 2022, Beijing made clear it "would not renounce the use of force" to achieve that objective.

MENAFN03052026000045017169ID1111063625