Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit the country this weekend.
Panama said on January 30 that the United States would not negotiate on the ownership of the Panama Canal following the proposal of President Donald Trump, who would take control of the waterway again.
At a weekly press conference held on January 30, Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino said he wanted to clarify the chaos of China’s role in the canal, and that Panama controls the canal. Ta.
“It’s impossible, I can’t negotiate,” Mulino said when asked about returning the canal to US control. “It’s done. The canal belongs to Panama.”
He describes future dialogue with US officials, saying, “You can clean up all garbage from the road, clean the table, and talk to the United States,” he illegally immigrants, drug trafficking, and very frank. I can say and speak. ” Regional security.
When Panama asked if he could remove concessions from a company linked to China, Mulino is not on the table, and the government is waiting for the results of a CK Hachison payment to the state. Was stated. China manages waterways.
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“This is not a country that deprives the law and violates it. If they are Chinese companies or someone asked me, and if they take such concessions, we will invest as a country. He is not the climate that he wants to projected at home. ” “Panama respects the rule of the law.”
The United States was looking for a way to build an canal in the early 1900s and promote transportation of commercial ships and military ships between the coasts. However, Washington abandoned the control of the waterway to Panama on December 31, 1999 under the treaty signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1977.
When he took office on January 20, Trump in his speech, the American ship was “overwhelmingly overcharged” and said that the Chinese administration was running the Panama Canal. , He said that it is being treated unreasonably. Previously, Trump stated that the United States would be able to reconfirm the ownership of the canal.
Earlier this week, a group of U.S. U.S. Senate has expressed concern about the Chinese administration’s influence on the canal.
“Chinese companies have built a bridge across the canal at a slow pace, and control container ports at both ends,” said Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas). I mentioned in a hearing about the role of the canal. US trade.
“The partially completed bridge gives China the ability to block the canal without a warning, and the port gives an observation post that is ready to spend time on the action. This situation is the US national security. Bring a serious risk.
He suggested that Panama could violate the canal’s neutral treaty.
AP communication and Reuters have contributed to this report.
