The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Panama, Javier Martinez-Acha (R), shakes hands with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio while leaving a meeting on Sunday at the Panama City presidential palace, Panama.
Mark Schiefelbein / Pool / AFP via Getty Images
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Mark Schiefelbein / Pool / AFP via Getty Images
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Panama leaders on Sunday that the country of Central America should take immediate measures to reduce the influence of China in the Panama Canal region or the United States will get involved.
Rubio is during his first trip abroad as the first American diplomat. In addition to Panama, he should visit El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic this week.
Sunday, Rubio spoke with Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Javier Martínez-Acha. He told them that President Trump “had decided preliminary that the current position of influence and control of the Chinese Communist Party in the area of the Panama Canal is a threat to the channel”, according to a summary of the State Department From their discussion, adding that the presence of China in the canal area violated a treaty signed by the United States and Panama in 1977, ensuring that the canal would be neutral and open to all nations.
“Secretary Rubio clearly indicated that this status quo was unacceptable and that in the absence of immediate changes, it would force the United States to take necessary measures to protect its rights under the treaty,” said the carrier Word of the State Department, Tammy Bruce, in a press release.
Addressing journalists, Mulino said that his talks with Rubio were “respectful” and “positive” and said that he had not “felt that there was a real threat against the treaty and its validity”, reported the Associated Press.
The Panama Canal, which links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, is essential to world trade. The United States is the largest user of the navigable track, but the other major users include Chile, China, Japan and South Korea, according to the Foreign Relations Council.
A company based in Hong Kong has managed ports on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts since 1997, but there is “no evidence” the Chinese government controls the canal, said the CFR. However, Chinese companies have been strongly involved in infrastructure projects around the canal in recent years, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Rubio said that in the event of conflict, Chinese companies could potentially transform the canal into a strangulation point.
Trump has talked more and more of wanting to take over the channel, saying that Panama has given control of the navigable track to China. During his inauguration speech last month, the president said: “We did not give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and we take it back.”
The United States controlled the canal between 1903 and 1977, but President Jimmy Carter signed treaties to gradually give control of the close canal area in Panama. Full property was granted to Panama in 1999.
We do not know what type of consequences Panama can be confronted if he does not follow up at the request of Rubio. Leland Lazarus, who studies the role of China in Latin America at Florida International University, told NPR that Rubio would have work work, because China is a major trading partner through Latin America.
Before Rubio’s trip, the president of Panama had already excluded all discussions on the control of the Panama Canal, saying that their conversation should focus on trade and migration.
Michele Kelemen of NPR contributed the reports.
