After Beijing’s failed push to exclude Taipei from participating in Pacific island summits, Taiwan has signed a cooperation agreement with the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Secretariat that will see the self-ruled island continue its support for the strategically important region until 2027.

Much to the chagrin of China, which has sought to internationally ostracize what it views as a breakaway province, the deal was signed during an annual Taiwan-PIF forum held in Tonga on Friday, the island’s Foreign Ministry announced Sunday.

No concrete details were provided about the 2025-27 pact, with Taiwanese Deputy Foreign Minister Tien Chung-kwang quoted as saying that it serves as a “concrete demonstration of Taiwan's commitment and support toward the development of the Pacific region."

While the level of Taipei’s financial support was not disclosed, Tien said the cooperation deal aligned with the PIF's 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent — a long-term regional guideline for cooperation in key areas, including governance, people-centered economic development and climate change.

The senior Taiwanese diplomat said Taipei, which has had the status of a PIF “development partner” for more than 30 years, has been assisting the Pacific islands in a number of ways. These include promoting agriculture and education as well as providing support in the fields of health care, information and communications, women's empowerment, clean energy and infrastructure.

The bilateral forum took place alongside the annual PIF leaders’ summit, which ran from Aug. 26 through last Friday. It ended in drama after China’s envoy demanded that the initial communique be republished without language about Taiwan, especially as just three PIF members still have diplomatic relations with Taipei.

“Leaders reaffirmed the 1992 Leaders decision on relations with Taiwan/Republic of China,” the statement read in its original version, but the line was removed following protests by China, which called it “unacceptable.”

But while the sentence was deleted, the PIF rejected a push by the Solomon Islands to remove Taiwan’s “development partner” status, a move that would have likely excluded Taipei from PIF diplomatic gatherings.

Honiara’s argument was that Taiwan was "not a sovereign country."

It has been rumored that Solomon Islands, which switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 2019 and signed a policing deal with Beijing last year, might have been urged by China to make the proposal. But it was to no avail as Pacific island leaders didn’t seem keen on reopening such a debate at a time of increasing geopolitical competition.

China is not a PIF member either, but it attends the regional grouping events as a “dialogue partner,” just like other major countries such as Japan, Canada and the United States.

The latest developments come as Washington and regional allies Tokyo, Canberra and others push to counterbalance Chinese clout in the strategically important Pacific region.

Australia, for instance, managed to sign a sweeping regional policing plan with Pacific island leaders at the latest summit in a move that was widely seen as part of a geopolitical play to exclude Beijing.

This came only weeks after Japan and Pacific island leaders agreed on a host of new initiatives during a three-day summit in Tokyo designed to boost economic and security cooperation.

Washington held a similar summit and unveiled its first-ever regional engagement strategy last year as the allies seem to coordinate efforts to boost their presence and clout in the region.

As for Taiwan, while the democratic island continues to compete with China over formal recognition, it has largely been outmatched in this area, which is why Taipei has also been building “unofficial ties” with key nations such as the United States, Japan, Australia and European countries — part of a pragmatic approach to circumvent the diplomatic obstacles set by Beijing.