Alvarado spoke about the importance of Costa Rica's diplomatic relations with both China and the United States. 

The Chinese government offered Costa Rica a new National Stadium as a gift and spent an estimated $100 million on its construction.

Pompeo's visit to Costa Rica was the first for a sitting U.S. Secretary of State in a decade. 

The move does not appear to be linked to the bruising trade war between China and the US.

Costa Rica and China signed a cooperation agreement on Monday in the context of the Silk Road Economic Belt, an initiative of Beijing that aims to encourage trade and investment.

China announced the end of its hugely controversial one-child policy after decades of strict, sometimes brutal enforcement. All couples will now be allowed two children.

Costa Rica could find itself once again as a center of high-tech manufacturing, including cars and renewable energy equipment, after President Luis Guillermo Solís and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a strategic partnership agreement that included future discussion of "special economic zones" in Costa Rica for Chinese enterprises, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.

Solís said he wanted to see the Costa Rican and Chinese economy more closely linked, listing special economic zones, infrastructure investment, technology sharing, and greater educational and cultural exchanges as some of his goals for the future of the relationship.

In recent weeks, a research consortium has detected Axiom malicious software on at least 43,000 computers around the world belonging to law enforcement and other government agencies, journalists, telecommunication and energy firms, as well as human rights and pro-democracy groups.

Images from this trip will help President Xi Jinping project an image of a strong China to the Chinese people.