China irked over Costa Rican Presidential candidate's plan to name stadium after Dalai Lama
Phayul[Friday, January 22, 2010 10:40]

The Dalai Lama delivers a speech during the lecture "Ethics for the New Millenium" at the University of Costa Rica in San Jose, Sept. 2004 AFP/Mayela Lopez/file
Dharamsala, January 22 - China has objected to a pledge by a Costa Rican presidential candidate to name a stadium in the San Jose after Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama saying it "is not in line with the common desires of the two countries", reported the Indo Asian News Service.
Otton Solis, leader of the centre-left Citizen Action Party, had said that he would name the stadium after the exiled leader to highlight Costa Rica's lack of economic dependence. Reacting to Solis, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement Thursday that the stadium "represents the Chinese people's friendship with Costa Ricans". China has contributed $83 million to build it.
The 35,000-capacity stadium will have offices for 32 sports federations, giant video screens, a sports museum, a track-and-field course and rooms for table tennis, fencing and chess.
Costa Rican authorities are planning to inaugurate the stadium in February or March next year with a soccer match between Costa Rica and China, musical concert and other sports.
The stadium is one of the flagship projects started after the resumption of diplomatic relations between Costa Rica and China in June 2007.
The Tibetan leader has twice visited Costa Rica where the 1989 Nobel peace laureate is respected and admired. The Tibetan leader is also a close friend of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez, also a Nobel peace laureate (1987). The Tibetan leader during his last trip to the country in 2004 met with Oscar (then former president, he was the president from 1986 to 1990) who was reelected as president in the 2006.