Lesotho.

Lesotho's foreign policy is fundamentally shaped by its complete geographic encirclement by South Africa. The relationship is asymmetric -- South Africa provides Lesotho's primary market, transit routes, employment (mine workers), and has historically intervened in Lesotho's political crises (including military interventions in 1998 and diplomatic interventions through SADC). Lesotho seeks to balance this dependency by engaging with other partners and multilateral institutions.

The Lesotho Highlands Water Project gives Lesotho its most important bilateral leverage with South Africa, as the Gauteng region depends on water transfers from Lesotho's highlands. Internationally, Lesotho engages with the EU and US primarily around AGOA trade preferences for its textile sector, and with China for development assistance and infrastructure investment.