Taiwan-Costa Rica diplomatic ties cut

Calling the move by President Oscar Arias “contrary to the national spirit of Costa Rica,” Foreign Minister James C.F. Huang said that Taiwan had been making “vigorous efforts” to communicate with Costa Rica with utmost sincerity, yet Costa Rica “still decided to cling its own way.”

Costa Rica, a Central American democratic republic with some 4 million inhabitants, established diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1944.

Claiming that China has spent an astronomical amount of money to lure Costa Rica to shift diplomatic allegiance, Huang said Taiwan has no intention of waging a “checkbook diplomacy” battle with China.

“China has pledged a grant of US$130 million to Costa Rica and a procurement of bonds worth US$300 million,” a cost President Chen Shui-bian said that Taiwan cannot afford.

Taiwan and China split in 1949, when the Chinese Nationalist government fled to the island after losing the Chinese Civil War.

Since then, the two have vied for diplomatic recognition over the other. China views the democratic island of 23 million people as a breakaway province and refuses to establish diplomatic ties with nations that recognize Taiwan. Costa Rica is the eighth nation to switch recognition from Taiwan to China since 2000. Its defection leaves Taiwan with 24 diplomatic allies around the world, compared to China’s 170.

Huang said during a news conference that Costa Rica signed a joint communique on the establishment of diplomatic relations with China June 1 but it failed to inform Taiwan until 4:00 a.m. yesterday, Taipei time.

Arias said Wednesday at a news conference in the Spanish-speaking country’s capital of San Jose that he made the diplomatic switch to strengthen ties with China and attract foreign investment.

The Latin American president said that China is their top trading partner, buying more than US$1 billion worth of Costa Rican exports last year.

“Taiwan has been very generous and I thank it for the solidarity and cooperation it has shown for nearly 60 years, but I have taken this decision thinking of all the Costa Ricans,” he added.

Huang described Arias’s decision as ironic since it goes against the ideals of the Nobel Peace Prize, which Arias won in 1987 for his efforts to end civil wars then raging in several Central American countries.

“President Oscar Arias chooses to discard the universal values of peace, freedom and human rights commonly treasured by Taiwan and Costa Rica and to turn to ally with the autocratic Communist China,” he said.

Arias has also disregarded the “shared values and long friendship” between the two countries, he noted.

He further accused Arias of being engaged in “several secretive talks on building formal ties with the PRC,” since his assumption of the presidency in May 2006.

Arias met with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing last September’s during a United Nations meeting, and Costa Rica opposed Taiwan’s bid to gain membership in the World Health Organization’s World Health Assembly last month, Huang said.

The minister also claimed that even before flying secretly to Beijing in late May, Costa Rican Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno lied to the media saying that his country’s relations with Taiwan remained unchanged.

Huang remarked that for the sake of upholding the nation’s dignity and interests, the Taiwan government has in turn decided to cease all bilateral cooperation projects.

Taiwan’s embassy in Costa Rica on Wednesday lodged a strong protest over the government’s “extremely unfriendly” move of switching recognition to Beijing.

“The Costa Rican government should bear the responsibility and all consequences for betraying the 63-year-long friendship with Taiwan,” the embassy said in a written statement.

1|2|Next Page>>

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email