Taiwan is pushing to shore up its few remaining diplomatic allies in Central America, a modest but positive sign for Taipei as China keeps peeling those partners away.

• Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung has arrived in Belize and will also visit Guatemala, two of Taiwan's last formal allies.
• He brought a business delegation, so the trip is about trade and industrial deals, not just handshakes.
• The foreign ministry will not yet say whether he stops over in the United States — a detail China always watches closely.
• Full travel details are being held back and released "at an appropriate time," the usual signal that a sensitive leg is involved.

Outlook: Expect Beijing to protest loudly if a US stopover is confirmed, and expect Taiwan to keep dangling economic deals to hold on to the allies it still has.