Panama City (AP) -The U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be to Panama’s President Jose Raul Murino on Sunday, and the Central American allies will quickly reduce China’s influence on the Panama Canal, or retaliation from the Trump administration. He said he had to face sex.
Rubio held discussions with Mulino on his first foreign trip as a US top diplomat in the United States. Murino has resisted a new US government’s pressure on the management of Panama’s waterway, which is essential for global trade.
Watch: Rubio makes the first statement after confirming Trump as Secretary of State.
After the meeting, Mulino told reporters that “there is no real threat to capture the canal or threaten the use of force.”
On behalf of President Donald Trump, who demanded that the canal was returned to the United States, Rubio had to Murino, Trump’s presence in the canal area violated the treaty, which led to the United States. He said he made a preliminary decision. To Panama in 1999. The treaty is seeking the permanent neutrality of the canal built in the United States, and Rubio planned a tour on Sunday.
“Secretary Rubio has revealed that this situation is unacceptable and there is no immediate change, so that it will request the United States to take necessary measures to protect the rights based on the Treaty,” the Ministry of State. Was described in the summary of.
This statement was abnormally dull, but Trump has set foreign policy along the tenor and tone. Trump has been increasing pressure on Washington’s neighbors and allies, including the canal’s demands, and has announced on Saturday that he is imposing large -scale tariffs on Canada and Mexico. It promoted retaliation from these close allies and began a trade war.
Read more: Canada and Mexico will order retaliation tariffs because Trump’s tariffs are spurning the trade war.
Meanwhile, Mulino, on the other hand, called Rubio’s “respect” and “positive,” and said, “I do not feel that there is a true threat to the treaty and its validity.”
He acknowledged that China’s role in the port at both ends of the canal had raised concerns in Washington. However, the president said that the consortium that dominated them was being audited, and the canal authorities would give Rubio a detailed explanation.
Mulino said that when Panama expired, he would not renew his agreement between the Chinese belt and the road initiative. Panama participated in Initiative. This Initiative has reduced Taiwan’s diplomatic perception, acknowledged Beijing, and then promotes infrastructure and development projects that critics say that poor member states have neglected China.
Approximately 200 people marched in the capital on Sunday, raising the flag of Panama, shouting “Marco Rubio from Panama”, “Long Live National Sobulin”, “One territory, one flag.” After being stopped in front of the President’s Palace by the Riot Police, some people burned the flag in Trump and Rubio images.
Rubio also thanked Trump’s top focus (suppression of illegal immigrants) that it was important to cooperate with Panama that it was important to cooperate with his work. However, Rubio’s trip has closed US funding programs for illegal migration and crimes in central American countries by freezing US foreign aid funding and stop work.
In the Wall Street Journal Opinon Piece on Friday, Rubio has a large immigration, drugs, and hostile policies pursued by Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and the port facilities at both ends of the canal are based in China. A vulnerable waterway operated by the Beijing government.
“The president was quite clear that he wanted to administer the canal again,” Rubio said on Thursday. “Obviously, Panama is not a big fan of that idea. The message is very clear.”
Despite Mulino refused negotiations over ownership, Panama believes that Panama may be open to a compromise in which Hatison Port, based in Hong Kong, is deprived of the operation of both canals. There is. Execute them. The audit of its extensions is already in progress and can lead to a weight loss process.
Unknown is that whether Trump accepts the transfer of concessions to American or European companies to meet his demands seems to cover more than just strategy.
Rubio’s trip will take him to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Dominica, but will come in the freezing of foreigners in the United States. The State Department said on Sunday that Rubio had approved the exemption of a specific important program in the country he was visiting, but could not immediately use them.
AP communication writer Ellennic Meyer has contributed from Washington.
