China Continues to Wine and Dine Costa Rica, this time with bicycles and soccer balls.
A while back we wrote how China has dumped an unreal $300 million to further it political, diplomatic and investment goals in Costa Rica, by building a soccer stadium and buying bonds in Costa Rica. Their wining and dining continued last week in a ceremony at a low-income school in San José that was attended by Costa Rica’s Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno and Yu Bo, the Chinese charge d’affaire to Costa Rica.
Yes, Yu Bo had a political smile when he pointed to the 1,000 bicycles and 10,000 soccer balls for children to distributed in different rural districts to help students go to school. Now, I guess it was part of a agreement that Costa Rica government made with Chinese President last November. Hummm, one has to think what else is China committed to in that agreement?
So what is this donation for?
It is no secret China wants to help build and finance a billion-plus dollar refinery on the Caribbean side in the town of Moin. A project that has been under scrutiny by the Comptroller’s Office, an independent [watchdog] bureau that monitors government actions to make sure they are within the law.
And it again is no secret that China has become the second largest trade partner of Costa Rica. The bilateral trade between the two countries reached $2.87 US billion U.S. dollars in 2007. China’s imports from Costa Rica hit $2.3 billion U.S. dollars, up 32 percent, and its exports gained 39 percent to 570 million U.S. dollars.
Stagno in a returning political smile thanked China for the donation, adding, it is helping secure the ties between the two nations. And Yu continues somewhat humbly by saying, this only a small contribute to the growth of youths, and proof of our ongoing ans sincere friendship between our two countries.
This September a delegation from Costa Rica’s is heading to China to help secure a better Free Trade deal. One of the items that is going to be discuss is if Costa Rica CAN make important advances in the area of customs procedures or more likely, REDUCE the import tax that Costa Rica is known for?
Hummm an interesting question – one that may cost China a lot more ….
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You are missing the whole refinery aspect. China does not care about Costa Rica’s economy. They are interested in investing into Costa Rica in hopes of constructing a refinery. Let’s be honest, this is the leading reason any MDC invests into LDCs. There is always an incentive.
I agree that China is making Strong moves to befriend Costa Rica,
But I think that their investments are good in the long run for all Costa Ricans. Why should Costa Rica be dependent on the United States for critical investments. I am an American doing business in China and I see both sides to their actions. I am a Venture Capitalist and consultant and I can honestly say there are far more Capitalists in China than there are in the USA. The USA has been moving toward a more socialist government and society and that is not good for free markets like Costa Rica. I welcome your comments and my e-mail is abracadabra4u@hotmail.com