Taiwan is negotiating new money for its Caribbean ally St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a modest but telling move in its fight to keep the diplomatic partners it has left.

• Taiwan's foreign ministry confirmed talks on funding a national development bank and several community programs in St. Vincent, but stressed nothing is signed yet.
• St. Vincent's prime minister, Godwin Friday, has said Taipei pledged at least $2 million to set up the bank plus $1 million a year for social projects.
• The pledges came out of Friday's visit to Taipei this month, his first since taking office, marking 45 years of ties between the two.
• Taiwan has only a handful of formal allies left as China peels them away, so keeping Caribbean partners on side matters more than the sums involved.

Outlook: Expect the deals to be finalized in some form, with China likely to counter-offer as it has elsewhere in the region.