China has told its people to get out of Eswatini. The foreign ministry’s consular department said Tuesday that Chinese nationals and institutions already in the southern African kingdom “should evacuate as soon as possible or relocate to relatively safer areas such as South Africa,” citing “rampant cyber fraud and online gambling criminal activities.” Anyone who stays, it warned, faces “extremely high security risks, and the timeliness of receiving consular assistance may be affected.” Spokesman Lin Jian repeated the line in Beijing on Wednesday: telecom fraud and online gambling are “rampant,” public-order risks are “extremely high,” and China “will take necessary measures” to protect its citizens overseas.
Mbabane answered the same day. Acting government spokesperson Thabile Mdluli said Eswatini respected any country’s right to advise its own citizens, but called the picture of an exceptional security threat “unsupported” and “regrettable.” A recent police operation against suspected organized cybercrime, involving mostly Chinese nationals, was not proof the country had lost control, the statement said. It was “an isolated criminal operation” that law enforcement had disrupted. “Eswatini remains a peaceful, stable and law-governed State.” The kingdom “will not be coerced, disadvantaged or destabilised” over its diplomatic choices.
Those choices are the point. Eswatini is one of 12 countries, and the only one in Africa, that still recognizes Taiwan. Beijing claims the island as its own. Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te visited in May after an April trip was cancelled; Taipei had accused China of leaning on neighboring states to revoke overflight permits. The BBC reported that Beijing’s foreign ministry afterwards called Lai “an international laughing stock.” On May 1, Beijing extended zero tariffs to every African country except Eswatini. A commerce ministry source told The Korea Times more than 200 Chinese nationals work there in textiles, retail, and restaurants.
The security file is real and messy. The Times of Eswatini reported Tuesday that 40 Chinese nationals have been held since last month after first being arrested in March, with dozens of other foreigners, in raids on alleged illegal online gambling centers in Mbabane. Their lawyers say they pleaded guilty to immigration offenses, paid fines, were released on High Court orders, and were then re-arrested unlawfully. The Korea Times, citing the crackdown, put the year’s haul at about 200 foreign nationals, including at least 55 Chinese citizens. China did not spell out what, beyond fraud and gambling, makes the kingdom too dangerous to stay in. Eswatini says the raids prove the police are working, not that the country is falling apart.
Sources: BBC; The Korea Times; China Daily; Times of Eswatini.
