Taiwan withdrew from the 2026 Our Ocean Conference (OOC) held in Mombasa, Kenya, on June 16, after two Taiwanese delegates were denied entry to the conference, and later detained by authorities for over 20 hours. Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ocean Affairs Council condemned the Kenyan government for yielding to diplomatic pressure from Beijing. This event marks another example of China’s intensifying campaign of obstructing Taiwan’s international participation.

First held in 2014, OOC has included Taiwan as an invited participant since 2015. However, Kenya, the host country of the 2026 conference, made an unprecedented move of blocking Taiwan’s attendance.

According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the option of “Taiwan” in the participation application system was found to be removed this April. Subsequently, some of the members of the team’s electronic visas were denied. In June, the delegates arrived in Kenya, only to be refused entry, on the ground that the government did not recognize their Taiwan passports. The delegates were later forcibly detained for over 20 hours, with their passports and phones withheld. Eventually, the delegates returned to Taiwan after being released.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ocean Affairs Council complained of China’s political pressure behind the incident. 

Similar political actions have been taken in the recent past, notably the interruption of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te’s diplomatic visit to Eswatini. President Lai’s visit was originally set for April 22. However, three African countries—Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar—revoked the overflight permits without warning, consequently delaying Lai’s visit. In response to the disruption, the House Select Committee on China of the United States later posted on X, denouncing the Chinese government’s pressure on the three countries to impede Lai’s visit. In an April 21 statement, the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) also condemned China’s isolation of Taiwan.

Samir Bhattacharya, researcher with India’s  Observer Research Foundation, noted in an interview that China has been deploying political pressure and economic motives to systematically obstruct Taiwan’s international participation. He warns that measures such as limiting overflight permits emerges as a new and dangerous approach to serve such purposes.

Particularly, China’s influence on African countries is worth noting. International projects—such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and the Belt and Road Initiative—have tightened the relations between China and African nations, as well as solidified China’s economic influence over Africa. Eswatini, Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in Africa, is consequently excluded from the FOCAC and Belt and Road Initiative. As Bhattacharya observes, this has profoundly shaped how other African countries perceive their relations with Taiwan.

China has consistently sought to marginalize Taiwan in the global standing, from pressuring other nations to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan, to barring Taiwan’s participation in international forums and organizations, including the United Nations and the World Health Organization. With Taiwan’s forced withdrawal from the 2026 OOC, this geopolitical strategy shows no signs of abating.