Only 21 small, often poor nations still keep formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan. 

The number was 22 until December, when the tiny African island nation of Sao Tome and Principe finally switched recognition to China, and, as a result, had a visit from nine big Chinese companies to probe infrastructure possibilities.

Hoping to shore up dwindling support, Ms. Tsai visited four of her allies in Latin America this week – Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. 

In Nicaragua, the second-poorest country in the western hemisphere, President Ortega used the occasion to try and rally global support for Taiwan’s sovereignty.

“We’re still engaged in this battle, which is a just battle, one of principles, so that the people of Taiwan continue to be incorporated in international organizations attached to the United Nations,” he said, according to Reuters. 

One of his delegates to the meeting with Tsai, General Alvaro Baltodano, blandly dismissed the idea that this might cause a problem for Beijing. 

“We’ve always had these warm relations with both China and Taiwan,” Baltodano told Reuters.

This looks like a grave miscalculation, as China is hardly likely to be so easy going. 

Its One China policy is fundamental to its sense of territorial integrity, prestige and national destiny. 

Just by taking a call from Tsai Ing-wen in December, US President-Elect Donald Trump sparked a furious diplomatic row, breaking a convention dating back to 1979 when the US officially recognized the People’s Republic.

Trump’s defiant tweeting in response, and Tsai Ing-wen’s stopover, on her way to Nicaragua, in Texas on 8 January to meet Republican Senator Ted Cruz and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, has stirred up tensions to pre-1979 levels. 

Yesterday a provocative maneuver by Chinese warships in the Taiwan Strait caused Taiwan to scramble jets and navy vessels in response.