From the Kingdom of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), the only country on the whole continent that refuses to recognize Communist China and maintains close ties with Taiwan, and which (as a seriously Christian country) is a bulwark against ISIS in Mozambique: an interesting article on who will be better for the country, Trump or Biden.

http://www.times.co.sz/let-s-ponder-on-this/129672-donald-trump-eswatini%E2%80%99s-friend-or-foe.html

DONALD TRUMP: ESWATINI’S FRIEND OR FOE?

BY WELCOME DLAMINI

On Friday morning (local time) Donald Trump formally accepted the Republican Party’s nomination for a second term as president of the world’s most powerful nation.

Officially, Trump will go head-to-head with Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden for the White House hot seat.

Supporters of both camps have termed this the most important election in the United States’ history.

The world is following this presidential election with keen interest mainly because these two politicians’ policies are very dissimilar and victory for either one of them carries enormous implications for each and every country’s foreign policy.

As Trump put it in his acceptance speech; “there has never been such a difference between two parties or two individuals in ideology, philosophy or vision than there is right now”.

The Kingdom of Eswatini might be geographically located far from the United States but, politically and economically, the relationship is intimate.

For Eswatini, just as many other countries, there is much riding on who wins between Trump and Biden. But who, between the two, would be best for Eswatini?

We cannot forget how the presidency of Donald Trump brought smiles to many emaSwati when, in December 2017, he restored Eswatini’s eligibility under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Trump gave Eswatini the best Christmas present it could have wished for.

excitement

I still remember interviewing the then Prime Minister Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini who could not hide his excitement at the news of the country having retained its AGOA eligibility status. Verbatim, he said: “We are so happy to be going into Christmas with such a gift that will be enjoyed by the entire country.” By ending the country’s misery of not being able to benefit under this duty-free trade agreement, Trump exhibited early signs of being a darling to the kingdom. Our excitement could be likened to that of Russia when Trump was elected president in November 2016. Former colonel of Russian military intelligence Dr Dmitri Trenin, the Director of the Carnegie Moscow Centre – a think tank and regional affiliate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace - there was celebration on the floor of the Russian State Duma triggered by Trump’s victory. It is rare for Russia – a known enemy of the US – to celebrate the election of an American president, but this time things were different.

According to Trenin, Trump appealed to Russian expectations of an American president who would put ideology to one side and adopt a realistic view on international relations and conduct a foreign policy squarely based on national interests.

Indeed, Trump’s administration has enjoyed a cosy relationship with Russia under the president of Vladimir Putin. As expected, this has not been accepted by the Democrats who, through Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama and Trump’s 2016 opponent for the presidency, Hillary Clinton, made America foes with Russia. Obama even insultingly called Russia a ‘regional power’ while Clinton publicly called for a ‘Russia without Putin’ and encouraged Russian youth to protest against him. Based on this alone, the Russians had every reason to celebrate Trump’s victory.

Trump’s cosiness with Russia has been good for the Kingdom of Eswatini because of the relationship that the kingdom has established with Putin’s administration.

1/3

Tomes of Eswatini ctd:

military exposition

There is an already existing military agreement that was signed with Russia in 2017 whose purpose is for the supply of weapons, maintenance and other military agreement.

During the Russia-Africa Summit, a delegation from the kingdom attended a military exposition where different armoury was tested.

At a time when Russia has underlined its renewed bid for influence in the resource-rich African continent and hoping to increase cooperation with African nations to combat extremism by exchanging information between security agencies, it does a lot of good for Eswatini to be in good terms with Putin’s country.

Trump has made this even much easier because he is known to warm up to those who are ‘friends’ with his ‘friends’.

There is also the issue of the Republic of China (Taiwan) – a country whose only ally on the African continent is Eswatini.

The People’s Republic of China has done well to try and isolate China from the international community and is using its economic power to influence countries, especially in Africa, to cut ties with Taiwan.

Desperate for the Chinese money, all the African countries, save for Eswatini, have dumped Taiwan. China now considers the Kingdom of Eswatini as its enemy for having stood firm in its diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

While it seemed probable that Eswatini’s hand would be twisted into establishing formal relations with China and dumping Taiwan, the kingdom never gave in to the pressure.

And then President Trump did the unthinkable; he opened political communication and economic relations with Taiwan – a move that, with all intents and purposes – was meant to spite China. Washington Post columnist Marc A.

Thiessen described Trump as arguably the most pro-Taiwan president in US history.

He listed the unusual sailing of US warships, under Trump’s watch, through the Taiwan Strait — the international waters separating Taiwan from China — on a routine basis, compared with just one to three times a year under Barack Obama.

While both Obama and George W. Bush refused Taiwan’s requests to buy US F-16s for fear of provoking Beijing’s ire, Trump approved the fighter-jet sale — the first since 1992.

Times of Eswatini ctd

congratulatory call

And after the 2016 election, Trump became the first US leader to speak directly with a Taiwanese leader since the United States broke diplomatic relations in 1979 when he accepted a congratulatory call from President Tsai Ing-wen.

This is quite significant for Eswatini. Again, it bolsters the kingdom’s firm, unmoved stance not to ditch Taiwan.

It came as most welcome news that the Trump administration had a strategic and economic opportunity to help Taiwan by negotiating a new US-Taiwan free trade agreement.

It was also sweet music to Eswatini’s ears to hear of Taiwan’s readiness to make big concessions to get such a deal, which would win bipartisan support in the US Congress.

This kind of free trade deal was seen as a no-brainer for Trump — a chance to bolster the U.S. economy, increase U.S. exports, raise pressure on China and rack up a big win on Capitol Hill all in one fell swoop.

With such a trade deal, Eswatini, which also has its own trade deal as part of its diplomatic relations with Taiwan, is, by extension, bound to benefit.

Remember that Trump regards his friends’ friends to be his friends too.

Who can forget the United States’ relationship with Israel, which has taken a totally different dimension and level under president Trump. The United States has always been very strong supporter of Israel but Trump took that backing to another level when, on December 6, 2017, he formally recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, reversing nearly seven decades of American foreign policy and setting in motion a plan to move the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to the fiercely contested Holy City.

Two weeks later, the United Nations overwhelmingly voted for a resolution calling upon the US to withdraw its recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The resolution called upon all States to refrain from the establishment of diplomatic missions in the Holy City of Jerusalem.

The kingdom of Eswatini was not present during that vote, deliberately so.

This is part of the kingdom’s foreign policy. The non-presence during the voting process was enough of a statement; it could be politically interpreted to mean the kingdom was not in support of that resolution.

historic establishment

This can even be backed up by the relations that the kingdom has with Israel, which include military, economic, trade cooperation.

So again, we are friends with Trump’s friend, which makes us his friend.

The fact that Trump has now even facilitated the historic establishment between the United Arab Emirates and Israel to establish normal diplomatic relations should augur well for Eswatini.

The UAE has good relations with Eswatini and having Israel as part of this partnership would be an added advantage and one that is bound to increase economic and other relations with the Arab world. Therefore, it looks more beneficial for Eswatini to have Trump in the White House, notwithstanding his shortcomings. We all have our own limitations anyway.

The United States assists Eswatini with a number of HIV/AIDS initiatives and programmes so we need a ‘friend’ in the US presidency, and no one can come as better as Donald Trump.

Such initiatives and programmes are implanted through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Centre for Disease Control (CDC), Peace Corps, African Development Foundation, the Department of Labour and the Department of Defence.

In addition, the US supports small enterprise development, education, military training, institutional and human resources development, agricultural development, and trade capacity building. The US is also the largest bilateral donor to the Global Fund, Eswatini’s principal HIV/AIDS funding source.

Here’s is to hoping that Jeanne Marie Maloney, the incoming US Ambassador to Eswatini, will look to strengthen the relations between the two countries and that Trump will consider us as his friends or rather, the friends of his friends.

We are both God-fearing and Christian people after all.

3/3