Taiwan Concerned About Costa Rica's Contact With China
Taiwan expressed concern Wednesday about Costa Rican President Oscar Arias's planned meeting with Chinese Foreign Minster Li Zhaoxing on the sidelines of the 61st UN General Assembly, but insisted Taipei-San José ties are stable.

"We have been notified of it beforehand. They will discuss reduction in armaments, peace and eradication of poverty. Our diplomatic ties with Costa Rica are stable, but we are monitoring development to prevent China's sabotaging our diplomatic ties," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Ching-long told a news conference.

Lu said Li Zhaoxing has expressed the wish to meet with the leaders of all of Taiwan's five Central American allies on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

"Li has - through Mexico's foreign minister - invited the presidents or foreign ministers of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador for a meeting under the excuse it wants to discuss the situation in Cental America, but Nicaragua has turned down the invitation," Lu said.

Arias is scheduled to meet with Li Zhaoxing later today (Wednesday), Costa Rica's Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno Ugarte said in an interview with a New York radio station on Tuesday.

China is fighting a diplomatic battle to win over Taiwan's 24 diplomatic allies, more than half of which are in Latin America.

The Taiwan-China tug-of-war has benefited Taiwan's diplomatic allies, some of which have switched back and forth between Taipei and Beijing several times depending on who gave them more aid.

China regards Taiwan, seat of the exiled Republic of China government since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949 - as its breakaway province awaiting reunification with the mainland. A total of 170 countries recognize China and see Taiwan as a Chinese province.