China is urging the Solomon Islands, one of Taiwan's dwindling number of diplomatic allies, to seize this opportunity to break relations with Taipei and establish them with Beijing, according to a report from the Pacific island nation.

The Island Sun newspaper said Monday that the message was conveyed in discussions last week between Chinese officials and a delegation of the Solomon Islands-China Friendship Association during a regional development forum in Xining, northwest China.

It comes after Solomon Islands Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele said last month that the decision as to whether to switch recognition from Taipei to Beijing would be made within the next 100 days.

A government-established task force is reportedly examining the pros and cons of a switch and plans to send officials to Beijing in August.

"China is ready but the key to open that door is with the Solomon Islands government," a Chinese official was quoted as telling the delegates at the Belt and Road Initiative forum.

Warning that the window of opportunity is closing fast, the official said it is in the best interests of the Solomon Islands to act promptly, considering its development needs.

The Solomon Islands is one of the six Pacific island states that recognize Taiwan, which China considers as a renegade province. The others are Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau and Tuvalu.

According to the Island Sun, the task force has so far visited four China-allied countries in the Pacific -- Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu -- to assess the impact of Chinese aid. It is due to visit Papua New Guinea at the end of this month.

Taiwan and mainland China have been governed separately since they split amid a civil war in 1949.

The Chinese government has stepped up its efforts to diplomatically squeeze Taiwan internationally since President Tsai Ing-wen of the island's independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party came to power in May 2016.

Since then, five of Taiwan's erstwhile diplomatic allies have severed ties with Taipei and established them with Beijing.

Taiwan currently has just 17 diplomatic allies -- nine in Latin America and the Caribbean, six in the Pacific, one in Africa and the Vatican in Europe.