Costa Rica News

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Costa Rica: Beijing's new best friend

How abandoning Taiwan brings you not only a shiny new sports ground but also a presidential visit
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What do you get for renouncing Taiwan and embracing Beijing instead? If you take Costa Rica as a guide, it wins you not only a shiny new national sports stadium but also a visit from Hu Jintao.

The Chinese president touched down in the Central American nation last night, straight from the G20 economic summit in Washington. He brings with him plans for a free trade deal between the nations, planned to come into force by 2010.

Beijing has already promised nearly £50m, plus the loan of its finest engineers, to build a 45,000-seat national sports stadium in place of the previous crumbling 1920s version, now demolished.

Why does China love Costa Rica so much? Is it the avowedly pacifist constitution? The commitment to ecology and national parks? No – it all comes down to a decision in mid-2007 when the country ended more than 60 years of diplomatic relations with Taiwan to formally recognise Beijing - becoming the first Central American country to do so.

These are the latest muffled salvos in the so-called "dollar diplomacy" war waged globally by China and Taiwan since the latter separated itself from the mainland in 1949 following the Communists' civil war victory.

Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist forces, who fled to the island, insisted they remained the one true government of China, a notion supported by most nations until the early 1970s, when the US and UN recognition of Beijing led a flood of similar defections.

Taiwan, then far more dollar-rich than its giant but struggling neighbour, began shoring up its few remaining allies through generous aid packages, focusing particularly on impoverished states in Central America, Oceania and Africa.

But as China became richer, it played the same game. These days, if you are a would-be Taiwanese diplomat your travel prospects are limited, encompassing just four African nations, 10 tiny Pacific and Caribbean island states and the Vatican. Plus, of course, Central America, which has remained steadfastly pro-Taipei.

The first break came with Costa Rica, even though Nicaragua's president, Daniel Ortega, flirted with Beijing for a period.

Costa Rica is thus now Beijing's new best friend. Its president, Oscar Arias, was an honoured guest in China last year. Hu's current visit will see no fewer than 11 cooperation deals signed, aside from the free trade pact.

There are, however, some concerns in Costa Rica that a freed trade pact could see the country – a net exporter to China – flooded with Chinese goods. Others point to China's controversial record in Africa, where critics say its diplomatic overtures are often accompanied by a grab for natural resources.

Perhaps they'd better hope the stadium is a good one.