Panama president says he won’t renew Belt and Road deal with China, as US demands less Chinese influence over canal

Panama’s president reiterated on Sunday that Panama’s sovereignty over the Panama Canal is not up for debate, saying that during talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that he had addressed the United States’ concerns over China’s presence around the vital waterway.

Panama’s president reiterated on Sunday that Panama’s sovereignty over the Panama Canal is not up for debate, saying that during talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that he had addressed the United States’ concerns over China’s presence around the vital waterway. President Raúl Mulino added however that Panama would not renew a 2017 memorandum of understanding to join China’s overseas development initiative, known as the Belt and Road, and suggested that the deal with China could end early. Panama will seek to work with the US on new investments, including infrastructure projects, he said. “I think this visit opens the door to build new relations … and try to increase as much as possible US investments in Panama,” Mulino told reporters on Sunday after Rubio’s first foreign trip as the United States’ top diplomat. Mulino’s comments were followed by a US State Department readout of the meeting, which said Rubio told Panama’s president and Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha that concerns over China’s “control” of the Panama Canal may mean the US has to “take measures necessary to protect its rights” per a longstanding treaty on the neutrality and operation of the canal. Under the 1977 treaty, the US returned the canal to Panama’s control with the understanding that the waterway remain neutral. According to the agreement, the US could intervene militarily if the canal’s operations were disrupted by internal conflict or a foreign power. Today, more cargo than ever runs through the canal than it did during the years of US control. US President Donald Trump’s repeated and publicly stated desire for the US to retake control of the key waterway has already caused a diplomatic stir, with Mulino repeatedly stating that that Panama’s sovereignty over the canal is not up for debate.