Costa Rica confirms sending officials to Taiwan for training

Guatemala City, June 18 (CNA) The Costa Rican government on Wednesday confirmed a local media report saying that it has recently sent five officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program for the first time since the ending of diplomatic relations in 2007.

The Costa Rican presidential office told local media that five officials from the Directorate of Intelligence and Security spent 23 days in Taipei for intelligence-related training from May 8 to May 31.

The office added that all the expenses were covered by the Taiwan side, according to Costa Rican media reports.

Also Wednesday, Costa Rican Foreign Trade Minister Manuel Tovar confirmed that officials from the country's Foreign Trade Promotion Agency had previously traveled to Taiwan to seek foreign investment.

Taiwan, officially named the Republic of China, severed official diplomatic relations with Costa Rica in June 2007, ending 66 years of ties, after the latter changed allegiance to the People's Republic of China (PRC).

The training trip to Taiwan in May was first reported by the Costa Rican newspaper La Nación on June 13, quoting unnamed sources.

In response, the Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested to the Central American country. In a statement issued later in the same day on June 13, the embassy expressed its opposition to any official contact between Taiwan and Costa Rica while reiterating Beijing's stance that Taiwan is part of the PRC.

In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defense both told CNA that they have no knowledge of the trip and therefore have no comment on the Costa Rican report.

The National Security Bureau (NSB) told CNA in a statement that as the nation's top intelligence agency, "it is its responsibility to promote international intelligence exchange and cooperation."

However, the NSB said it never "comments on individual cases" and therefore will not comment on the news report.