The US requires Panama to reduce the Chinese impact on the channel or confront the action
Unlock the Bulletin on White House
Your guide for what American choices 2024 means for Washington and the world
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday, President Panaman José Raúl Mulino said to reduce the impact of China on the Panaman Channel or face direct consequences.
Rubio met Mulino in the city of Panama and said that President Donald Trump found that China represented a “threat of the channel” and that she had violated his neutrality contract, said State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce.
If the situation has not changed, now they “would take the measures needed to protect his rights under the contract,” Bruce wrote.
“The United States cannot and will not allow the Chinese Communist Party to continue with an effective and growing control over the area of the Panaman Channel,” Rubio wrote on X.
Mulino, Panama Conservative President Pro-Business, described the previous Trump claim that Chinese soldiers managed the channel as “nonsense” and insisted that the float path “is” and will always be Panama. “
The US built a 82 km channel more than a century ago, connecting the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean and controlled by the neighboring part of the territory until he signed a contract in 1977 for a gradual handover in Panama, which was completed in 1999.
The contract guarantees the permanent neutrality of the channel and allows the US to intervene if neutrality is violated.
When attacking the Chinese influence, American Panama critics focused on two ports at any end of the channel managed by Hutchison Ports, the CK Hutchison Holdings Holding Holding Hongs, under long concessions. They were renovated without the competition procedure in 2021 for 25 years.
On Sunday, Mulino acknowledged the concern about Luke and noted that his government had launched a audit of port concessions, which have almost 40 percent of the market share, in the midst of a speculation in Panama that they could cancel them.
It is not clear, however, whether the cancellation of Chinese concessions will be enough to satisfy Trump, who called the channel fees with “complete rip” and asked the US to take the canal.
About 200 people marched in Panama’s capital on Sunday, carrying national flags and shouting “Marco Rubio from Panama”, while the meeting of the US secretary lasted, Associated Press reported. Some burned a banner with the pictures of Trump and Rubi.
In the second gesture to the United States, Mulino said that Panama’s participation in the Chinese belt and road infrastructure initiative will not be renovated without giving date for expiration. Panama was joined by Belt and Road in 2017 when he transferred a diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China.
In recent years, Chinese state controls have been built by a huge congress center near the mouth of the canals and built a new bridge over a waterway and a cruise port, contracts provided by the bidding processes. Beijing sought to build a large new embassy on land near the canal until US complaints killed the scheme.
In his meeting with Mulin and Panaman’s Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Ach, he also praised the efforts of Panama to end illegal migration and “underlined the desire for improved investment climate and providing an equal condition for the FER competition of US companies,” Bruce said.
The number of migrants who illegally exceed Darién Jungle between Panama and Colombia – the main international migration path to the US in recent years – has fallen since Trump has taken over his duty. The numbers fell 94 percent last month compared to the same month a year earlier, according to Panama’s National Migration Administration.
