World

Factbox-Taiwan's 12 remaining diplomatic allies

A person holds the Taiwan and Guatemala flags near the flagship warship PAN-SHI (AOE-532), one of three ships in Taiwan's Naval Friendship Squadron, arrives at Puerto Quetzal on a visit to Guatemala as part of its annual cadet training deployment, a goodwill mission aimed at strengthening ties while conducting naval exercises in Central America and the Caribbean, in Puerto Quetzal, San Jose, Escuintla, Guatemala, May 2, 2026. REUTERS/Cristina Chiquin
A person holds the Taiwan and Guatemala flags near the flagship warship PAN-SHI (AOE-532), one of three ships in Taiwan's Naval Friendship Squadron, arrives at Puerto Quetzal on a visit to Guatemala as part of its annual cadet training deployment, a goodwill mission aimed at strengthening ties while conducting naval exercises in Central America and the Caribbean, in Puerto Quetzal, San Jose, Escuintla, Guatemala, May 2, 2026. REUTERS/Cristina Chiquin Reuters

May 2 (Reuters) - Taiwan President Lai Ching-te arrived in Eswatini on Saturday on a surprise trip, after his government blamed Chinese pressure for the cancellation of a visit that was meant to have taken place last month.

China views democratically governed Taiwan as part of its territory with no right to state-to-state ties, a position Taiwan's government strongly disputes.

Over the years, China has slowly whittled away at the number of countries that maintain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

Following is a list of states that still have diplomatic ties with Taiwan:

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

Belize

Guatemala

Paraguay

Haiti

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Lucia

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

PACIFIC

Marshall Islands

Palau

Tuvalu

AFRICA

Eswatini

EUROPE

Vatican City

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard)

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published May 3, 2026 at 7:09 PM.

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