On June 8, Costa Rican president Oscar Arias announced the diplomatic relations with Taiwan have been broken, and ties have been established with China. In leaving behind 60 years of diplomatic relations, this has created a great deal of critical comments, as well as of support. Legislators, blogs, press, etc. have all given their opinions.
What did Costa Rica gain in recognizing Taiwan? Some say money is the answer. During many years, Taiwan has maintained close ties with Latin American countries and gave gifts, beneficial loans, donations, etc. One cannot say that we or any of the other 24 countries were in that relationship for moral reasons. One can also not say that the country is ungrateful because that it was in the relationship for self-interest and not for conviction.
Some national blogs gave their opinions and the majority were against this decision, such as the blog La Suiza Centroamericana [ES]:
Y nos ha confirmado sin ambages que hemos entrado de manera decidida y definitiva en la era de la prostitución diplomática…Nuestra relación con Taiwán no estaba bien planteada porque se basaba en las dádivas y no en los principios fundamentales compartidos.
And it was confirmed, without talking in circles, that we entered in a decidedly and definitive fashion into the era of diplomatic prostitution…Our relationship with Taiwan was not well established because it was based on favors and not on shared fundamental principles.
One might ask whether Costa Rica's relationship with Taiwan was healthy or whether it was only for self-interest. Even though the countries share principles such as democracy, freedom of speech, whether that really mattered.
Juan Carlos Hidalgo [ES] writes:
Considero totalmente imprudente y bastante perjudicial la decisión del gobierno de cortar relaciones diplomáticas…Costa Rica siempre ha ‘rajado’ de ser un país promotor de los derechos humanos y la libertad. ¿Cómo se justifica romper relaciones con una de las pocas democracias consolidadas del Este Asiático a cambio de un régimen represivo y violador de las libertades civiles más básicas como lo es China?
I consider the government's decision to cut diplomatic ties to be completely imprudent and very harmful…Costa Rica always has ‘gave an effort’ to be a country that promotes human rights and freedom. How is it justified to cut ties with one of the few consolidated democracies of East Asia in exchange of a repressive regimen and violator of the basic civil liberties, such as what happens in China?
There are other blogs that entirely support the decision, such as Fusil de Chispas [ES] writes:
El comercio y las puertas que se abren con la voraz economía China, se me hacen mucho más beneficiosas potencialmente, que el costo afectivo que parece tener el a otra cosa mariposa, en este momento específico
Commerce and doors are opened to the economic voracity of China, and I believe that this is potentially much more beneficial than the sentimental cost of the decision, ‘out with the old, and in with the new’
“A decision of this transcendence requires discreet diplomacy. We have been as transparent as the circumstances permits,” explained President Oscar Arias, when asked why the negotiations were secret. Now the country can be open to a market that contains 20% of the world's population (1.3 billion people), which is something immense and that may benefit the country.
11 comments
As a frequent traveler to Central America I fail to see how Costa Rica can be condemned for breaking relations with Taiwan as a moral failure. The Chinese revolution and the emergence of the Communist government are facts to be recognized and they have been dealt with accordingly by all countries in their own national interest. Despite the personal moral political failings of Pres. Nixon in USA domestic politics he acted in the USA national interest to recognize the People’s Republic of China, notwithstanding the tears of many of the most fanatic right wing Republicans. For a Democratic president to break with Taiwan as the government of China seated at the UN he would have faced accusations of being soft on Communism. American national interest triumphed over “moral” indignation. The government of Taiwan has capitalized on its relationship with 22 mini states, largely small islands in the Pacific, by pandering to them and the governments or leaders of Central America to seek international credibility. This merely holds up the unlikely support of Central American states to mockery as naive syncophants. I strongly suspect that even the far-leftist government of Ortega in Nicaragua maintains this farcical relationship because he or members of his political coterie have some financial secret funding which even outweighs his new dependence on Chavez of Venezuela. It is also a fact of Taiwan’s relationship with Central America that their nationals have secured in some countries, such as Belize, a very significant financial hold. From my travels in Belize I am amazed to find that the majority of small shops throughout the country are Chinese owned – a major contributor there to racial conflict, to say nothing of the growing control in services and small industry. According to the immigrant customs their financial arrangements involve Chinese exclusively. I am especially surprised that a country such as Belize, connected as it is to Central American groups and to the Caribbean permits itself to be shown as a Taiwan prostitute. Even in the Caribbean, from what I know there are only the three “saint” islands, plus Dominican REpublic and Haiti, still recognizing Taiwan. Surely Dominican Republic and Haiti in their respective historical situations are no touchstones for international morality. It would be interesting to know if the corruption now coming into the open about the rejected PUP government of Belize has involved a Taiwan connection; perhaps the personal payoffs have been such that even the new UDP government which has been in oppostion for most of the years since independence will use the “moral” issue to justify continued relations with Taiwan in place of national interest. Belize is obviously a prize for Taiwan as it bridges Central America and the Caribbean. So it goes politically even while the Vatican continues to inch its way towards relations with Beijing in the interest of the Catholic Church. Where is the morality in refusing to recognize the government of a country which contains a population of billions as opposed to the residue of a corrupt government that fled from China in the 1940’s and superimposed itself on indigenous Taiwanese?
James R. Paulson, Miami, Florida