BEIJING, June 25 (Xinhua) -- A senior Costa Rican diplomat said here on Monday that his country regards China as a significant Asian strategic partner.

    Costa Rica valued ties with China and hoped to expand cooperation in fields such as politics, economics and trade, culture and tourism, said Antonio Alarcon, director of the cabinet of Costa Rican Foreign Minister, in an interview with Xinhua.

    Alarcon said the Costa Rican government was making positive evaluations of bilateral relations, which were in "a highly important process of development".

    Alarcon also expressed the hope to expand the bilateral cooperation especially in the fields of trade and tourism.

    "We have plans to arrange for Costa Rican businessmen to participate in China's largest trade fair, the Canton Fair and Costa Rica's tourist institutions are working on programs to encourage Costa Rican tourists to visit China," Alarcon said.

    Bilateral trade reached 2.156 billion U.S. dollars in 2006, an increase of 87.3 percent from 2005. Costa Rica's exports to China were valued at 558 million U.S. dollars in 2006, a year-on-year rise of 132 percent.

    Alarcon is here to establish Costa Rica's embassy in Beijing to which his country would assign its "best diplomats".

    China and Costa Rica decided to establish diplomatic ties after the Latin American country agreed to break official relations with China's province of Taiwan.

    A joint communique, signed on June 1 by Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and his Costa Rican counterpart Bruno Stagno Ugarte, said the two governments, "in accordance with the interests and aspirations of the peoples of the two countries, agree to establish diplomatic ties at ambassadorial level beginning June 1, 2007".

    "For Costa Rica this is an act of foreign policy realism that promotes links to Asia," said Costa Rican President Oscar Arias. "It is my responsibility to recognize a global player as important as the People's Republic of China."

    Arias, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his efforts to end civil wars in Central America, said his decision was based on the deep trade relationship with China.

    Costa Rica established diplomatic relations with the then Chinese government ruled by the Kuomintang Party in 1941. In 1949 the Kuomintang authorities moved to Taiwan and the People's Republic of China was founded.

    "The establishment of formal diplomatic ties between China and Costa Rica will probably bring about a domino effect," said Xu Shicheng, a Latin America expert with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.