Panama President José Raúl Mulino announced on Thursday, 5, that his country departed from the Seda Route Economic Agreement with China after pressure from the US to reduce Chinese influence on the Panama Canal.
The announcement was made four days after the visit to Panama of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who reaffirmed Donald Trump’s threats that the US would take control of the channel if the Chinese influence was not contained.
Mulino denied that US pressure influenced the decision and assumed responsibility for removing the country from the initiative, which includes the financing of infrastructure projects with Chinese funds. “This is a decision I made,” he said.
Renewal
After meeting with Rubio on Sunday, Mulino had anticipated that he would let the agreement signed in 2017 by then -President Juan Carlos Varela. The country was the first in Latin America to join the agreement after breaking ties with Taiwan and recognizing the Chinese government. At the time, the adhesion was accompanied by the announcement and investments in roads and bridges.
The agreement is renewed every three years automatically (the next would be in 2026), but provides that “it can be terminated by either party” notifying the other three months in advance. Mulino said yesterday that the Panama embassy in Beijing presented the document to local authorities. “I don’t know who encouraged, at the time, to sign this to China,” he said. “What did this bring to Panama in all these years?”
Chinese Chancellery spokesman Lin Jian said on Wednesday that cooperation between China and Panama developed with “normality” and hoped that the Panamanians would resist “external interference.”
Continues after advertising
Amid pressure from the Trump administration, USA and Panama issued conflicting statements yesterday about access to the Panama channel. First, the State Department said all rates would be dismissed for American ships. A few hours later, Panama replied that no agreement had been closed.
Economy
The US government announcement about the exemption of rates came in the form of a brief post on social networks, which provided no more details besides saying that the agreement would “save millions of dollars a year to the US”, although it was not clear if the Economy would be really significant.
The authority of the Panama Canal responded by saying that no such adjustment had been made on tolls or traffic rights for US government ships. Trump has long complained that Panama charges too much from US military ships to cross the channel built by Americans, even if Navy vessels pay rates equal to those of other countries. (With international agencies)
