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ESWATINI’S ALLY TAIWAN SANCTIONS RUSSIA

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MBABANE – Eswatini is strengthening diplomatic relations with Russia, which has been sanctioned by the kingdom’s close ally, Taiwan.

It has been established that Russia has been banned from using Taiwan-made high tech items for military purposes. Taiwan imposed the sanctions on Russia in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Russia’s war against Ukraine is still ongoing. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was in the country this week to meet senior government officials. He held talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Thuli Dladla, Principal Secretary and acting Minister of National Defence and Security Prince Sicalo Dlamini and Prime Minister Cleopas Sipho Dlamini. The two countries signed an intergovernmental agreement on visa-free travel for holders of diplomatic and service passports.

diplomatic recognition

It must be said that Eswatini is the last remaining country on the African continent to maintain diplomatic recognition with Taiwan. In response to the economic sanctions, Russia included Taiwan in a list of ‘unfriendly’ nations. Moscow released the list on March 7, 2022. It included Ukraine, the United States; EU countries, the United Kingdom, Canada, Montenegro, Switzerland, Albania, Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, North Macedonia, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Micronesia, New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan.
In a statement released on January 3, 2023, the Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs announced the expansion of sanctions on Russia and Belarus. Meanwhile, in the statement released by Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said the items barred from being exported to Russia and Belarus in the expanded sanctions included chemicals such as ricin, conotoxin, botulinum toxin, nitrogen trifluoride, ammonium nitrate, tributyl phosphate and nitric acid, as well as stainless steel No. 304 and No. 316.

The expanded sanctions also cover machinery products, including computer numerical control (CNC) machines, machining centres, CNC grinding machines, electric discharge machines and controllers, the ministry said as quoted by Focus on Taiwan. It must be said that a wide range of law enforcement tools such as batons, handcuffs, leg chains and strait jackets are also included in the latest round of sanctions, the ministry added. It has been learnt that the newly-imposed sanctions against Russia and Belarus were expanded from the sanctions introduced in April and May 2022, which largely covered computer and information communications products, sensors, laser goods and aerospace items. When Russia invaded Ukraine, Eswatini’s ally Taiwan followed in the footsteps of the United States and European Union.

Following the Russian invasion, the ministry said Taiwan’s government followed the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies since March 2022, tightening scrutiny of its exports to Moscow and Minsk, the administrative city of Belarus. The Wassenaar Arrangement was established in 1996 to contribute to regional and international security and stability by promoting transparency and greater responsibility in the transfer of conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies. It has been established that the ministry held meetings with local industrial associations and Taiwanese small and medium sized exporters (SMSE) that have major buyers in Russia and Belarus at the end of last year to discuss the need for Taiwan to impose more sanctions on the two countries. The Bureau of Foreign Trade and the government-sponsored trade group, Taiwan External Trade Development Council have contacted Taiwanese exporters that would be affected by the new sanctions.  It, however, indicated willingness to help them minimise the impact of the new export restrictions.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs urged Taiwanese exporters to abide by the rules and not to sell the newly-banned items to Russia and Belarus. On a similar note, the Government of the Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), condemned Russia’s decision to start a war in violation of the UN Charter by invading and occupying Ukraine. Taiwan condemned Russia in a public statement issued on February 22, 2022. The East Asian country stated that the Russian action jeopardised regional and global peace and stability. ROC said the action also posed the most serious threat and challenge to the rules-based international order and system of international laws that maintained and protected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries.  “As a member of the global democratic alliance, the Republic of China (Taiwan) staunchly defends the core universal values of freedom, democracy, the rule of law, and human rights,” reads the statement.

“The government deeply regrets that Russia, instead of resolving disputes through peaceful diplomatic negotiations, has chosen to use force and intimidation in bullying others.”
 In order to compel Russia to halt its military aggression against Ukraine, and to restart peaceful dialogue among all parties concerned as soon as possible, the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan), announced that it would join international economic sanctions against Russia. The government of the Republic of China (Taiwan), called for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity to be respected. It also opposed any unilateral change to the status quo by force or coercion. ROC stated that it supported peaceful, rational dialogue and negotiation among related countries under the framework of international law to resolve differences. “Taiwan will continue to coordinate closely with the United States and other like-minded countries to adopt appropriate measures in order to free Ukraine from the horrors of war, as well as restore, at the earliest time, peace and stability to the region and the world,” further reads the statement. On April 6, 2022, the Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the country had banned the exports of 57 additional categories of high-tech products to Russia as it continued to join global sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.

Unfriendly countries

The list of unfriendly countries released by Russia meant that its companies doing business with the blacklisted countries would be required to obtain special government authorisation.
This is due to the fact that countries on the list were considered to have taken ‘unfriendly actions’ against Russia, Russian companies, and citizens. “Russian citizens and companies, the state itself, its regions and municipalities that have foreign exchange obligations to foreign creditors from the list of unfriendly countries will be able to pay them in rubles,” the decree added. “The new temporary procedure applies to payments exceeding 10 million rubles per month (or a similar amount in foreign currency).” That came at a time when the countries around the world had announced tough sanctions on Russia in response to the Ukraine invasion.  It must be said that sanctions caused the ruble to plunge in value, in addition to sending the share prices of Russian companies trading overseas downward.

In 2021, Taiwan’s exports to Russia totaled US$1.32 billion, the equivalent of E22 billion. It accounted for 0.76 per cent of outbound sales, government data showed. Russia’s decision to put Taiwan on a list of foreign countries deemed unfriendly’ to Moscow was to have little effect on bilateral relations. This was said by Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu, who assured his fellow citizens that his country’s representative office in Moscow was operating normally. Government Press Secretary Alpheous Nxumalo answered the question on Eswatini’s relations with Taiwan and Russia by referring to what former British Prime Minister Henry Palmerstone once said. He said Palmerstone once told the British Parliament that Britain had no permanent allies, and had no perpetual enemies, ‘but has permanent and perpetual interests’. Nxumalo said that was the understanding which made the diplomatic relations between the Kingdom of Eswatini and Taiwan solid and enduring.

By 2019, he said the Kingdom of Eswatini was already celebrating 20 years of the warm diplomatic relations that had existed between the Kingdom and Russia.
The government press secretary said Taiwan had a long-standing and full insight into the facts that all countries had the right to establish diplomatic relations with others without being bound by any multilateral or bilateral relations. As a matter of fact, he explained that diplomacy, being the art and the technique of creating understanding within countries, could possibly lead to a reciprocal contact and understanding between Russia and Taiwan as a result of the kingdom’s relations with both countries. In any and every case, he said diplomacy, in actual fact, crossed frontiers to adjust relations and harmonise the interests of countries and cultures of the people. He said all these factors led to the translation of disparate perspectives into shared expectations. Nxumalo said Eswatini’s Ambassador to Switzerland Vuyile Dlamini was also accredited to represent the country in Russia.  

Strategic ambiguity explained

One of the country’s political analysts said what was happening between Russia, Eswatini, USA, Taiwan and Mainland China was referred to as ‘strategic ambiguity’ in political science.
For instance, he said the strategic ambiguity allowed the United States, though a signatory of the One China Policy, to be involved in huge trade with Taiwan. Despite the One China Policy, he said USA’s trade with Taiwan escalated during Donald Trump’s administration. “What Pelosi (US Speaker) did when she visited Taipei was crossing the line. It was then politics which the USA administration avoided as she took advantage of the ‘autonomy’ of the House from Cabinet,” said the political analyst. He said the most interesting scenario in diplomacy was that of Britain as it had nursed relations with both Taipei and Beijing for more than 60 years. He said what was happening between Russia, Taiwan, Mainland China, Eswatini and USA could also be summarised by two words, if not one – trade and diplomacy or just trade without diplomacy. “I know I sound confused as the ‘confusing’ ties between these five nations,” the political analyst said on condition of anonymity.

He said Eswatini was getting neck deep into diplomatic ties with Russia and Moscow is presently Mainland China’s number one ally. On the other hand, he pointed to the fact that the kingdom has zero deep ties with China. He mentioned that the monarchy is the only country, out of 54 in Africa, which snubbed Beijing in favour of Taipei. The political analyst said Mainland China, on the other hand, is Eswatini’s second trade partner after South Africa. Notably, he also said Taiwan’s leading partner is China. He then addressed the issue of the USA and China. He said USA has China as its leading trade partner while Washington was noticeably playing the role of being a gatekeeper to Eswatini-China ties. The political analyst said America also traded with Russia since the fall of the USSR in 1989 under Michael Gorbachev and later Boris Yeltsin. “Again, Russia trades with Taiwan - a foe of China though and Russia is China’s biggest ally,” he said.

“Does China’s big ally, Russias, sudden big ties to Eswatini poke Taiwan? What does it mean to America and China?” He referred to the adage: 'You are my friend and your enemy is not my enemy'. “So there is diplomacy in trade. While we are allies we can also choose to work with foes without crossing certain lines,” he said. He said Eswatini, at some point, brokered ties with Cuba long before former US President Barack Obama did. He said this was of strategic importance to Eswatini though as it depended on the US A in so many ways yet America had a frosty relation with Cuba, but trading with Havana through tourism.

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