by Rod Hughes

A delegation of trade representatives from mainland China will be meeting with their local counterparts all week here to study a possible free trade treaty with China. The meeting is a direct outgrowth of President Oscar Arias’s visit to Beijing last October.

Earlier last year, the Arias Administration opened full diplomatic relations with China, a controversial foreign policy turnaround. The move made it necessary to sever the cordial four-decade-long relations with Taiwan since China claims the island nation as a break-away province.

The latest (Jan. 4) edition of the English-language weekly, The Tico Times, indicates how uncomfortable many are with the new arrangement. The editorial pointed out that Chinese tourists must go through an arduous two-month-long bureaucratic maze to receive a visa simply to visit here. This is because China is included in a somewhat unsavory list of countries including North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Mynamar and Cuba. to get a visa, Chinese travelors must present a written request, an intinerary, a return passage and proof they have enough money to travel.

The editorial called these requirements “contradictory and embarrassing” in the light of the new relations, especially since the all-powerful Chinese government has recently designated Costa Rica as a “recommended destination” for its tourists.

But in a letter to the editor just below it, reader George Prosser of Golfito blasted China eloquently for, among other things, using more than its fair share of non-renewable resources, consuming shark fins, occupying Tibet for its gold and uranium deposits, claiming Taiwan and numerous repressive human rights offenses including the jailing of journalists. He did not forget the export of tainted toys and pet food as an example of what he termed “blatant disregard for the consumers of its products.”

This administration and the newspaper obviously do not share Prosser’s misgivings. Perhaps they agree with a paraphrase of cynical comedian W. C. Fields: Anyone who poisons dogs and little children can’t be ALL bad…”