Palau's Vice President Raynold Oilouch arrived in Taiwan to attend the founding ceremony of a new Taiwan-hosted disaster-management alliance, a modest diplomatic win for Taipei and a practical help for a small ally facing drought.

• Oilouch landed in Taoyuan with a delegation and was greeted by a deputy foreign minister, signaling Taiwan's effort to keep its few remaining diplomatic allies close.
• The World Alliance for Disaster Management (WADM) is meant to pool member countries' resources so they can prepare for and respond to typhoons, tsunamis and droughts together.
• Palau is a founding member and says the tie-up matters now because it is already in the early stages of a drought expected to worsen and last until around April next year.
• Palau wants training, joint drills, information sharing and eventually shared resources with Taiwan and the other members.

Outlook: The alliance formally launches in the coming days with follow-up meetings, and Taiwan is likely to lean on it to deepen ties with Pacific allies as China keeps pressuring them to switch sides.