The control and administration of the Panama Canal is unnegotiable and will not be part of the agenda that is addressed during the visit of the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio to the Central American country, said President José Raúl Mulino.
The president of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, discard issue is not negotiable.
“About him channel theme It is impossible, I cannot negotiate and much less open a negotiation process on the channel, that is sealed, the channel is from Panama, “Mulino said at a press conference when he was consulted on whether he could give in some issues of the agenda bilateral.
The US president Donald Trump has warned of his intention to recover control of the channel, accusing the Istmeña nation of breaching the promises he made for the definitive transfer of the strategic interoceanic aquatic via in 1999 and to give up his exploitation to China, which which The Panamanian government has denied sharply.
Rubio's arrival in Panama has generated a strong expectation about what the Panamanian ruler will treat or ask Trump's threats, even before assuming on January 20 in his intention to try to resume the management of the channel, arguing that It charges rates to the ships in their country and that China's soldiers are those who handle the road, something that Panama has insistently refuted.
Rubio is expected to arrive in Panama over the weekend in what is his first trip abroad since he assumed the position.
Although the channel is operated by Panama, two ports in its inputs of the Atlantic and the Pacific are operated by the CK Hutchinson company, which is quoted in the stock market in Hong Kong, while other nearby ports are operated by private companies in the United States, Singapore and Taiwan.
When asked if Panama could withdraw companies linked to China, Mulino said that this was not on the table and that the government was waiting for the results of an audit on CK Hutchinson's payments to the state, which was announced shortly after Trump's accusations.
“This is not a country to remove and put or break the laws, if I do that because they are Chinese companies or I remove a concession to the brave because someone asked me, that is not the climate we want to project from the country in front of investors foreigners, “said the Panamanian president.
“Panama is to respect the rule of law,” Mulino added about the possibility of withdrawing concessions to companies linked to China.
Panama granted in 1997 the operation and development of the ports of Balboa (Pacific) and Cristóbal (Atlantic) to a subsidiary of the Hutchison Whampoa Limited consortium, based in Hong Kong, which renewed for 25 years more the then government of President Laurentino Cortizo In 2021.
Mulino mentioned that in the case of the ports his government recently ordered an audit, which he described as “unpublished”, to know if the Chinese consortium is paying what is due to the Panamanian State for its use.
“We are going to wait for the audit. Nor is it a country to remove or put the laws. That is not the climate we want to project, ”said Mulino, which called the United States to invest more in the country. “Panama is to respect the rule of law, like any or not.”
In a recent interview with The Associated Pressthe channel administrator, Ricaurte Vásquez, stressed that consortiums from the United States, Taiwan and Singapore also operate port terminals adjacent to the channel. “They are located on the banks of the channel and there are operations that we maintain together, but are governed by the rules of procedure of the Panama Canal.”
(With information from Reuters and The Associated Press)