Costa Rica's ambassador to Beijing Antonio Burgues has condemned the pressure brought by a Chinese diplomat in Costa Rica to secure 100 working visas for Chinese nationals, La Nacion newspaper reported Saturday.
Burgues, identifying the diplomat as commercial attache Mao Furong, slammed "another case of unwelcome intervention… in Costa Rican internal affairs," in a letter sent three weeks ago to the deputy foreign minister Carlos Roverssi, the newspaper said.
"I hope it's the last time," he wrote.
According to the letter, Burgues noted that Mao met with Roverssi over the issue, and Roverssi sent a diplomatic note to the Chinese embassy regretting a delay in granting the work visas for 100 Chinese nationals to come to the Central American nation to build homes.
The pressure from Beijing began after Labor Minister Sandra Pisk ordered a suspension of a visa agreement for Chinese construction workers, Burgues said.
Chinese workers are well regarded in Costa Rica, who praise their work on building the National Stadium in San Jose, raised with a Chinese donation worth some 80 million dollars.
Costa Rica gave up six decades of ties with Taiwan in favor of China in June 2007.
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