Taipei can never hope to compete with the economic might of Beijing when it comes to offering aid and financial support to other governments. The decision by Kiribati and the Solomon Islands in the past week to switch diplomatic relations is therefore unsurprising. But there is more than symbolism in Taiwan losing seven allies since Tsai Ing-wen took the presidency in 2016, reducing the number of nations that recognise it to just 15. China’s influence in the central and south Pacific is expanding despite the best efforts of Western powers.

The shift is to be expected; Beijing is best placed to serve the development needs of the region’s nations. Chinese state-owned companies have been stepping up efforts to build infrastructure, with eyes on expanding the reach of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. As part of a strategy to maintain Western geopolitical influence in the south Pacific, the United States and Australia had been lobbying the islands’ politicians to maintain support for Taiwan, the latter even luring away construction of a fibre-optic cable to the Solomons originally earmarked for the Chinese firm Huawei. But Kiribati still switched sides on Friday, four days after the Solomons.