Lapatilla
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino announced on Thursday the cancellation of the economic agreement of the Silk Route with China, after pressures from the United States to reduce Beijing’s influence on the Panama Canal.
Mulino said that the Panama Embassy in Beijing “presented the corresponding document” to “announce the cancellation with 90 days before”, as established by the agreement. “So, that is a decision I made,” he added at a press conference.
The announcement occurs four days after the visit to Panama of the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, who traveled with the mission of counteracting a supposed interior interoceanic interior channel, which President Donald Trump threatens to resume.
The agreement of the Strip and the Silk route contemplates the financing of infrastructure projects with Chinese funds to boost trade and connectivity in Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America.
More than a hundred countries have adhered to the agreement, emblematic project of the Xi Jinping government launched in 2013.
After meeting with Rubio on Sunday, Mulino had advanced that he would expire the agreement signed by Panama in 2017 by the then President Juan Carlos Varela (2014-2019).
According to the letter of understanding, the agreement is renewed every three years automatically (next 2026), but contemplates that “it can be terminated by any of the parties” notifying three months in advance.
“I don’t know what encouraged who signed that with China at the time,” Mulino added. “What has brought for Panama in all these years? What are the big things? What that ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ has brought the country? ”Mulino questioned, annoying.
On Monday, Rubio described as a “great step” to strengthen relations with Washington Panama’s decision not to renew that agreement.
The United States considers that this initiative seeks the influence of Beijing worldwide and is a danger to security.
“Cooperation between China and Panama in the framework of the Strip and the route is developing normally and has achieved fruitful results,” said the spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Lin Jian.
The Chinese official had said that he hoped he resisted “external interference.”
AFP
