TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP): Taiwan is preparing for the worst over its relations with Grenada after rival China reportedly offered a huge sum to persuade the Caribbean state to break ties with Taipei, officials said Tuesday. Taiwanese newspapers said the offer was made when Grenada's Prime Minister Keith Mitchell secretively visited Beijing last week in what was seen as a likely prelude to establishing formal relations with the mainland. "When he was in Beijing, we already prepared for the worst," Foreign Minister Chen Tan-sun told reporters. Chen said his sense was that Grenada was using Beijing as a bargaining chip to demand more money from Taipei. But "we will not accept blackmailing," he added. Foreign ministry spokesman Michel Lu said a statement severing ties with Grenada has been drafted. He accused China of again resorting to "dollar diplomacy" to lure away its ally Grenada by promising an aid package worth "several times" more than Taiwan's aid. Lu gave no figure for Taiwanese aid. Local reports said Grenada is inclined to follow the lead of fellow Caribbean state Dominica, which cut its 21-year-old ties with Taiwan in March -- allegedly due to China's hefty aid package. Taipei and Beijing have been bitter rivals since their split in 1949 and have long engaged in a diplomatic tug-of-war to woo allies away from each other with generous financial aid. The two sides were recently embroiled in a controversy over ties with Vanuatu that plunged the tiny Pacific nation into a constitutional crisis and led to the dismissal of its prime minister. A new government was formed in Vanuatu last week after former prime minister Serge Vohor was ousted for his one-man pact with Taiwan. Vohor last month made an unannounced mission to Taipei and signed a communiqué recognising its government despite his country's existing ties with China. Vanuatu's new Prime Minister Ham Lini apologised to China and pledged support for the "one-China" policy, under which Taiwan is deemed part of Chinese territory. Only 26 countries, excluding Vanuatu, recognize Taipei instead of Beijing as the legal government of all of China. Reprinted from Caribbean Net News caribbeannetnews.com