The President of Panama repeated on Sunday that Panama's sovereignty about the Panama Canal is not under discussion, and says that during conversations with the American State Secretary Marco Rubio that he had tackled the concern of the United States about the presence of China around the Vital Waterweg.
President Raúl Mulino, however, added that Panama would not renew Memorandum of Conformity from 2017 to become a member of the Chinese overseas development initiative, known as the Belt and Road, and suggested that the deal with China could end up early.
Panama will try to work with the US on new investments, including infrastructure projects, he said. “I think this visit opens the door to build new relationships … and try to increase as many American investments in Panama as possible,” Mulino told reporters after Rubio's first foreign trip as the best diplomat in the United States.
Mulino's comments were followed by an reading of the Meeting of the US Department of Foreign Affairs, who said Rubio the President of Panama and Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-ACHA told that concern about the “control” of China about the Panama Canal Can mean that the US must “take measures that are necessary to protect its rights” according to a long -term treaty on the neutrality and functioning of the channel.
Under the 1977 Convention, the US brought the channel back to the control of Panama with the concept that the Waterweg remains neutral. According to the agreement, the US could intervene militarily if the activities of the canal were disturbed by internal conflicts or a foreign power. Nowadays, more load than ever runs through the channel than in the years of American control.
The repeated and publicly declared desire of the US President Donald Trump to conquer the US to re -conquer the Keywaterweg, has already caused diplomatic excitement, whereby Mulino repeatedly declares that the sovereignty of Panama is not under discussion about the channel.
Mulino said on Sunday that he does not think there is a real risk that the US would use military force to resume the channel.
'Panama will not invest any dollars in it'
Mulino also said that the Panamanian authorities perform an audit on a company linked to China that operates two terminals around the channel.
“We have to wait until that audit ends before we can draw our legal conclusions and act accordingly,” said Mulino.
The company in question is the Panama Ports Company, part of a subsidiary of the Hong Kong -based conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings. Hutchinson Ports is one of the world's largest port operators, who supervise 53 ports in 24 countries, including for other American allies such as the VK, Australia and Canada.
As CNN has previously reported, Hutchison does not manage access to the Panama Canal. Employees on their two gates load alone and load containers on ships and supply them from fuel. Three other ports in the vicinity of the canal are operated by competing companies that offer comparable services.
Mulino also said that the Panamanian authorities with Rubio spoke about the possibility of expanding a migrant repatriation flight program to remove foreign subjects who do not have the legal basis for being in Panama, insisting that the US should bear the costs.
Asked to clarify whether migrants would come to Panama and then be transferred to their respective countries, Mulio said: “Yes. Exactly … we can, without a problem, under the total cost of the US. Panama will not invest any dollars in it. “
The program signed in July is aimed at reducing irregular migration by the Darien Gap, a mountainous rainforest area that connects in South and Central America. The 66-Mile (106 kilometers) walk through the Darien brings migrants from Colombia to Panama and is a crucial passage for those who want to reach the United States and Canada.
Mulino said on Sunday that the repatriated migrants from Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and other countries could be.
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