QCOSTARICA — One day after it was announced that the United States considers Costa Rica a success story within its global strategy to counter China’s influence on the continent, the Chinese Embassy in Costa Rica asserted that the Donald Trump administration is trying to sabotage diplomatic relations between Costa Rica and China.
“We categorically reject the United States intervention and sabotage of relations between China and Costa Rica, harming China’s legitimate interests (…) This is a propaganda strategy and reflects its constant hegemonic actions, coercing regional countries to take sides,” the embassy stated in a response to the newspaper La Nación.
A report from the US State Department indicated that Costa Rica “has taken significant steps to distance itself from Beijing and move closer to Washington.”
– Advertisement –
The document, released by the U.S. State Department on the occasion of Trump’s first 100 days in office, cited discouraging China’s presence in the Americas through the America First policy as an achievement.
On Tuesday, February 4, during his visit to the country, U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, stated that “Costa Rica is an example for the region and the world.”
The controversy
The deployment of 5G technology has been the source of great controversy in the relationship between Costa Rica, China, and the United States.
The Costa Rican government’s decision to exclude Asian companies from the 5G competition and the inability to raise China’s concerns face-to-face with industry leaders lead China’s ambassador, Wang Xiaoyao, to believe that Costa Rica does not want her country’s scientific and technical cooperation.
Since Wang took office at the end of May 2024, it has not been possible to coordinate a specialist-level meeting with the leaders of the Ministry of Science and Technology on the 5G network.
– Advertisement –
This is why China’s position of demanding fair rules for competition has had to be transferred to the Foreign Ministry.
“We have had very healthy diplomatic relations with Costa Rica for 17 years, including in the area of technology, but recently, regarding the 5G issue, everything has come to a standstill (…) We have sufficient technological and scientific evidence to defend Asian technology, but we haven’t been able to explain it. I get the impression that Costa Rica doesn’t want to have scientific and technological cooperation with China, since in recent years we haven’t held the joint commission to establish the key sectors for the next phase of cooperation,” the ambassador previously said.
– Advertisement –
Source link
Rico
