Taiwan and Costa Rica: With friends like these...
China's generals might as well throw out their invasion plans for Taiwan. The way things are going, they're not going to need them.
The breakaway island republic in the China Sea had a setback this week as Costa Rica withdrew from their "alliance". This same week, Canada has gone on the offensive about human rights and democracy in the region. Not good timing, it seems.
Taiwan's foreign policy would be amusing if it wasn't such a tragic failure. Most UN-member countries simply ignore the tiny island out of deference to the "other" China. Taiwan's fragile democracy is forced to essentially bribe developing countries in return for diplomatic recognition. Clearly, as China moves into the top spot in the world economy, that strategy is no longer viable.
Costa Rica's president didn't even try to pretend the move was about higher principles.
Costa Rican President and 1987 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oscar Arias played down claims that China is a human rights violator. "We had relations with a dictator such as Chile's during the (Augusto) Pinochet regime and no one said anything."
Oh! Well, that makes it okay, then.
