Taiwan is using both snacks and drones to keep its shrinking circle of diplomatic allies close, a small but telling sign of how hard Taipei works to hold onto Pacific friends.

• Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung attended a "Palau Taiwan Night" event with guests from Palau, the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Guam.
• He handed over drones to the allied countries, pitching deeper training, technology use and industry ties.
• He also brought taro pastries from Taichung, playing on taro as a shared crop across Taiwan and the Pacific islands.
• Palau's president said the friendship rests on trust and that Palau stays with Taiwan because Taiwan stayed with Palau.
• Taiwan floated sending its pastry chefs to Palau to help locals turn their own taro into higher-value products.

Outlook: Expect Taiwan to keep pairing tech transfers with cultural outreach in the Pacific as Beijing pushes to peel away its remaining allies.