Admiral Alvin Holsey, commander of the Southern Command of the United States Army, visits Panama in order to meet with authorities of the Central American country, in times of tension between the two nations.
A senior military chief of the United States visits Panama to strengthen safety cooperation and “protect” the area of the interoceanic channel of the “influence and control of the Chinese Communist Party,” the US embassy reported Wednesday, which immediately generated a Reaction of rejection of China's diplomatic headquarters in the Central American country.
Admiral Alvin Holsey, commander of the Southern Command of the United States Army, will be in Panama on Wednesday and Thursday in order to meet with Panamanian authorities.
The visit is carried out at times of tension between the two allied countries, after US President Donald Trump reiterated his intention to resume the control of the channel because he is supposedly being controlled by the Chinese, something that the Panamanian government has Insistently rejected.
According to the embassy, Holsey will hold meetings with Security Minister Frank Abrego, and Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Facha, in which we will also talk about the initiatives to end the crisis of irregular migration in the region. The Panama government had not referred to this visit on Wednesday.
In addition, the US military commander will have an encounter with the channel administrator, Ricaurte Vásquez, in order to talk about the strategic importance of the sea road and the areas of cooperation in common.
Later on Wednesday, the China Embassy in Panama issued a statement in the social network X in which it indicated that the Chinese part “has never participated in the management or operation of the Panama Canal, nor has intervened in the affairs of the channel ”
“The alleged argument that 'China controls the channel' is nothing more than a pure lie. On the contrary, it has been precisely the United States that has threatened and again with 'retake' the channel … the maneuvers of the US part to sabotage relations between China and Panama will not find any support and will be destined for failure ” , he sentenced.