Office of the President Republic of China(Taiwan)

On the afternoon of September 8, President Tsai Ing-wen and her delegation to the Kingdom of Eswatini arrived back in Taiwan. In remarks at Taoyuan International Airport, President Tsai said that even though Taiwan faces difficult circumstances in its international engagement, we still choose to make friends and engage in diplomacy with sincerity and determination. Going forward, she said that Taiwan will play a more active role in addressing issues of global concern and will work with our partners around the world to advance regional and global development and prosperity.

A translation of President Tsai's remarks follows:

Over the course of our four-day trip we achieved our two main objectives of celebrating the enduring friendship between Taiwan and Eswatini and advancing our sustainable cooperation.

We witnessed the friendship between our two countries, which is built on a foundation of mutually beneficial cooperation and mutual support. Through cooperation in such fields as healthcare, agriculture, youth education, vocational training, and women's capacity building, our two countries have achieved much success.

Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) traveled with our delegation and represented Kaohsiung in signing a sister city agreement with Mbabane, the capital city of Eswatini. In addition to promoting youth exchanges, the two cities will cooperate to boost bilingual education and teacher training.

Through this trip, we have once again shown the world that even though Taiwan faces difficult circumstances in its international engagement, we still choose to make friends and engage in diplomacy with sincerity and determination.

Taiwan faces many challenges, but they have only made us braver and more resilient, and strengthened our resolve. Our courage comes from the support of our friends. I want to thank the Kingdom of Eswatini once again for its longstanding support for Taiwan's international participation and for speaking up for us.

Taiwan is willing and able to contribute more to the international community. Going forward, Taiwan will be even more united and bolder as we play a more active role in addressing issues of global concern. Working together with our partners around the world, we will advance regional and global development and prosperity. 

I want to thank all of our staff on this trip, especially our colleagues from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for giving their all to ensure that every task was successfully completed. I also want to thank China Airlines for their attentive service and ensuring flight safety, making sure that we were very well taken care of on our travels. Thank you.

Secretary-General to the President Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), National Security Council Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄), Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), Deputy Secretary-General to the President Alex Huang (黃重諺), National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥), Dean of the Diplomatic Corps and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Ambassador Andrea Bowman, and Eswatini Chargé d'Affaires a.i. Nontokozo Shongwe-Tsabedze were present at the airport to welcome the president.