There are two articles below - both related to the Costa Rica's increasing diplomatic ties with China
China Trade Council to Establish Office Here
By Peter Krupa
Tico Times Staff
As part of its massive publicity blitz this week during the first China Trade Expo in Costa Rica, China announced that it would be establishing a trade office here. The office, part of the Asian giant’s publicprivate China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), will be the first in Central America and the second in Latin
America, counting the CCPIT office in Mexico.
The office should be open by the end of the year, according to Wang Jinzhen, a vicechairman for the China Council who was in Costa Rica for the trade expo. Officials said the office would help strengthen the commercial
ties between the two countries and make it easier for Costa Ricans to do business in China, and vice-versa. CCPIT’s Costa Rican counterpart, the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER), announced earlier this month that it would establish its own trade office in China.
Trade representatives took advantage of the trade expo and the presence of the first Chinese diplomatic delegation (see separate story) to sign some cooperation agreements and discuss the possibility of others. The Chamber of Foreign Commerce and Representatives of Foreign Companies (CRECEX), one of the co-sponsors of the expo, signed an agreement with China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products.
Likewise, the San José-based Chinese-Costa Rican Chamber of Commerce signed a cooperation agreement with the Chinese designed to increase exports of Costa Rican coffee to China. Wang mentioned during a press conference that the CCPIT is interested in promoting coffee shops in China that sell Costa Rican coffee, but offered no details. Indeed, that was how it went most of the week, with Chinese and Costa Rican officials
mentioning various possibilities for cooperation between the two countries, but never nailing down details.
For example, both Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister He Yafei and Costa Rican officials mentioned the possibility of an investment security agreement between the two countries, but added that nothing concrete
would come of it until after Costa Rican President Oscar Arias’ visit to China in October. Financial assistance from China in the form of a purchase of an unspecified amount of Costa Rican debt was also given a diplomatic wink, as was the idea of a freetrade agreement between Costa Rica and China. “I think this is the first step,” CRECEX
Executive Director Luis Monge said. “What there are right now, more than anything, are intentions.”
The trade fair itself is a rather small affair, with 30 Chinese companies occupying the 2,400-square-meter convention space at the Ramada Herradura Hotel, northwest of San José. The event will be open today from
2-9 p.m. and tomorrow 2-6 p.m. The gala launch event Wednesday night was attended by Costa Rican officials including Finance Minister Guillermo Zúñiga and future Costa Rican Ambassador to China Antonio Burgués.
In an extravagant ribbon-cutting ceremony, the master of ceremonies invited eight Costa Rican and Chinese officials up on stage to do the deed. Scissors at the ready, there was a slight pause, and the officials looked at each other, not sure how to proceed. Finally, someone counted in English: “One, two, three!” And the red ribbon was cut.
Chinese Visitors Tout
New Diplomatic Ties
By Gillian Gillers
Tico Times Staff
Amid the double handshakes and the clink of champagne glasses, Chinese and Costa Rican authorities promised to cooperate on trade, investment, immigration and academic affairs during China’s first diplomatic visit here this week. Tuesday, China announced plans to open a trade office in Costa Rica; Wednesday, some 30 Chinese companies inaugurated the first China Trade Expo; and yesterday marked the inauguration of the Chinese Embassy and the signing of accords on political dialogue, visas and education.
The countries established diplomatic relations June 1 after Costa Rica ended a 63-year relationship with Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province (TT, June 8). “Not to recognize a country that has a fifth of the world’s population seems to me a stupidity,” President Oscar Arias conceded Wednesday at a press conference with members of the Chinese delegation. “We are correcting an error… Our decision was based on realism.” Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno signed three accords yesterday morning with Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister He Yafei
and Chinese Ambassador to Costa Rica Wang Xiaoyuan.
In the first, the two ministries agreed to maintain “close political dialogue” by holding a meeting every two years. A second accord will allow government officials from each country to visit the other without a visa for 30 days. A third will promote academic cooperation between the Foreign Service Institutes that form part of each ministry. An hour later, the new Chinese Embassy was inaugurated with a flourish. High-ranking officials from both countries stood in the Embassy’s well-groomed garden in Rohrmoser, in western San José, as the Chinese flag was raised to the tune of the Chinese national anthem. At a cocktail party afterward, Ministers He and Stagno chatted in English,
champagne in hand, about Costa Rica’s mustsee volcanoes and rainforests.
Arias plans to visit China Oct. 24, on an invitation from Chinese President Hu Jintao, to discuss more accords. The two countries may begin negotiating a free-trade agreement at the beginning of next year, according to Arias. The Costa Rican Embassy in China is set to open next month after Costa Rican Ambassador Antonio Burgués arrives in China. Some 169 countries now have diplomatic ties with China, while only 24 recognize Taiwan. In an effort to strengthen relations with Central America, one of Taiwan’s last remaining bastions of support, Taiwanese
President Chen Shui-bian is visiting Honduras this week. At press time, Chen was set to discuss energy and the environment at a summit yesterday outside the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa with Presidents from the rest of the region.
Because all other Central American countries still recognize Taiwan, China is hoping Costa Rica will “break the ice,” according to Maynard Ríos, professor of international relations at the National University (UNA) in Heredia, north of San José. China’s Foreign Minister He acknowledged this, saying “Of course we hope other Central American countries that now do not have diplomatic ties with us will reevaluate their relationship with us.”
Costa Rica’s turnaround was largely an economic calculus, Ríos said, but the decision is also part political strategy. “Today, the composition of the international system is very different” than during the Cold War era, Ríos said. “It’s a multipolar system, dominated by economic powers.” One sphere of influence for China is the United Nations Security Council, where Costa Rica is seeking a seat for the third time. Although all states in the U.N. General Assembly vote for non-permanent members of the Security Council, China has particular influence given its active diplomacy and permanent seat on the Council. Chinese Ambassador Wang told the daily La Nación in a July interview that China would support Costa Rica’s bid.
News of further cooperation came last week, when President Arias said China would provide $50 million to Costa Rican municipalities – though questions about the aid remain unanswered and Chinese authorities have kept mum on the subject (TT, Aug. 17). China and Costa Rica engaged in their first official act of cooperation last week, said Costa Rican Immigration Director Mario Zamora. The Chinese government bought $4,000 airline tickets for each of 72 illegal Chinese immigrants with links to the Chinese mafia to return home from Costa Rica. Without diplomatic ties to China, Zamora added, Costa Rica would have had to swallow this expense. “A better relationship with Chinese authorities will translate into a better fight against the mafia and a better control” of
illegal immigration, Zamora said. Approximately 30,000 legal Chinese immigrants live in Costa Rica, along with
about 10,000 illegal immigrants. That makes Chinese citizens the third largest group of immigrants in Costa Rica, after Nicaraguan and North American immigrants.
“I don’t foresee drastic or dramatic changes in the flow of immigrants,” the Immigration Director said. “What I foresee is a selective immigration, principally of trade people, businessmen, and tourists.” Zamora announced new Immigration rules in the works so foreigners from countries with restricted visa status can enter Costa Rica
freely for up to 30 days if they have a U.S. or European visa – which high-level Chinese businessmen are likely to have.
To enter the country under the old rules, all Chinese nationals had to get a Costa Rican visa – a tedious process that could take months since all paperwork had to be done through the Chinese Embassy in Mexico and then be signed off by the Costa Rican Immigration Director himself (TT, June 15). Trade advocates said the visa restrictions made it hard for Chinese business owners to enter the country to look for opportunities or make investments (TT, June 8). Now, Chinese immigrants will be able to seek services at the new embassy, located two blocks from President Arias’ house in Rohrmoser. This shifts the burden from the private Chinese Association in downtown San José, which for years acted as a default embassy, according to association secretary Mandy Sung. “There was no Chinese Embassy here, so Chinese people had to look (to) us” for such services as translation and group activities,
she said. “Now Taiwanese people may look for us.
