China and Taiwan have been using economic incentives for at least two decades as they have engaged in a secretive battle to secure diplomatic recognition from small nations in Africa, Asia and the Pacific.

Fewer than two dozen states now maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, 12 of them in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The growth of China's economic clout – as well as the perception that Washington no longer cares as much as it did about Taiwanese diplomatic recognition – has helped Beijing to pull more and more countries into its camp, although it has been unable to stop some, such as Nauru and St Lucia, from being wrested back by Taiwan. Some governments have also complained that more financial help has often been promised than than has been delivered.