Rubio applauds Panama's decision to leave Chinese plan of the Strip and the route

After the conversations with US Secretary of State

The United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, celebrated on Monday Panama's decision to expire his participation in China's global infrastructure plan, qualifying the “great step forward” measure for its ties with the United States.

Any movement of Panama to distance from the Strip initiative and the route of Chinese President Xi Jinping is a victory for Washington, which has argued that Beijing uses the plan for the “diplomacy of the debt trap” to cement its global influence .

Rubio started the weekend for Panama, a close partner of the United States in Latin America, his first trip abroad as Secretary of State under the presidency of Donald Trump and pressed the country in Central America for his ties with China.

After the conversations with Rubio, the Panamanian president, José Raúl Mulino, said that the broad agreement of his country to contribute to the Chinese initiative will not be renewed, and could end early. He added that the agreement expired in two or three years, but gave no more details.

“Yesterday's announcement of President @Joseraulmulino that Panama will allow his participation in the initiative of the Strip and the PCCH route to expire is a great step forward for relations between the United States and Panama,” Rubio published in X After leaving the Central American country.

The China Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comments on the initiative or the issues of the channel.

Panama was the first Latin American country to officially support the BRI initiative in November 2017, five months after changing its diplomatic ties with China from Taiwan, the island democratically governed that Beijing claims as its territory.

China rejects Western criticism to the plan, stating that more than 100 countries have joined it and that it has promoted global development with new ports, bridges, railways and other projects.

The United States concerns have long extended to the operations of some Chinese companies near the Panama Canal, including a company based in Hong Kong that operates two ports in both entries of the navigable road, built by the United States at the beginning of the early 20th century and delivered to Panama in 1999.

Two Chinese state companies are building a fourth bridge separately on one of the channel tickets.

On Sunday, Rubio transmitted a Trump message in the sense that China's presence was a threat to the channel and a violation of the United States and Panama.

After the conversations with Rubio, Mulino was willing to review the 25 -year concession to the company CK Hutchison Holdings, based in Hong Kong, renewed in 2021 for the exploitation of the two entry ports, waiting for the results of An audit.