According to the Taipei Times of Oct. 12, King Mswati III of Eswatini toured the Flight Training Command of the Army Aviation and Special Forces Command in Tainan with President Lai Ching-te on the 11th, thanking Taiwan for donated military helicopters and pilot training.
The Taipei Times and the Central News Agency reported that Mswati arrived last Friday and stays until Oct. 17. It is his 20th visit to Taiwan since being crowned in 1986, and the main purpose is attending the Republic of China National Day celebrations. His wife, Inkhosikati Make Zuma, accompanied him.
광고 문의 · 300×250Lai said Taiwan donated two retired UH-1H helicopters to Eswatini in 2020, and the Tainan command trained 11 Eswatini pilots and maintenance personnel in 2019-2020. The president thanked the personnel involved for supporting diplomatic ties.
The reports say the helicopters were handed to the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force air wing and are used for medevac flights carrying casualties and patients who need urgent advanced care. Mswati thanked Taiwan for the aircraft and training, praised Taiwan's aviation sector and looked forward to deeper exchanges. The couple viewed helicopters in a hangar and tried a flight simulator; the king also sat in a Black Hawk cockpit.
According to CNA, at Mswati's reception on the 9th Lai thanked him for supporting a Taiwan industrial innovation park in Eswatini and recalled that his planned April trip was blocked by outside interference, while in May the king sent an aircraft that made his state visit possible. The helicopter donation was presented as one example of such practical cooperation.
Per Taiwan's foreign ministry, the king will next watch a joint ground-air exercise, visit an agricultural research center, and attend an investment dinner hosted by Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung. CNA reported on the 9th that Lai proposed deeper cooperation in health, education, vocational training, digital technology, infrastructure and energy. Eswatini and Taiwan mark 58 years of diplomatic ties.
