Costa Rica ? President Oscar Arias announced Wednesday that Costa Rica has broken diplomatic ties with Taiwan and established relations with China, delivering a blow to Taiwan’s fragile international standing.

Arias said Costa Rica needed to strengthen ties with China to attract foreign investment.

Since splitting amid civil war in 1949, Taiwan and China have fought to win the diplomatic allegiance of countries around the world. China refuses to have diplomatic ties with nations that recognize Taiwan.

“Taiwan has been very generous and I thank it for the solidarity and cooperation it has shown for nearly 60 years, but I have taken this decision thinking of all the Costa Ricans,” Arias said.

Taiwan, a democratic island of 23 million people, now has small countries like Palau and St. Lucia to bolster its claims of international legitimacy.