The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, met with the president of Panamano, José Raúl Mulino, in Panama during the weekend, said the spokesman for the State Department Tammy Bruce in a reading of his meeting.
Rubio told Mulino about the concern of President Donald Trump regarding Chinese influence on the Panama Canal and that Rubio “made it clear that this status quo is unacceptable and that absent immediate changes, would require that the United States take the measures necessary to protect their rights under the treaty of the treaty.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comments on whether the “necessary measures” could include military force.
At a press conference in Mar-A-Lago during the presidential transition period, Trump did not rule out the use of military force to obtain control of the Canal and Greenland of Panama, which described as two of its objectives for its second mandate .
Mulino previously denied that China had control over the channel. The channel is governed and operated by the Panama Canal Authority.
The channel used to be owned and operated by the United States, but slowly made the transition from control to Panama at the end of the 20th century, releasing its control over the channel in 1999.
One of the treaties that govern that transition ensures that the United States can intervene in the authority of the channel if Americans feel that there is a threat to the channel that operates with neutrality.
In reading Rubio’s meeting with Mulino, Bruce wrote that Rubio emphasized Mulino that Trump “has made a preliminary determination that the current position of influence and control of the Chinese Communist Party on the Panama Canal area is a threat to the channel and represents a violation of the treaty. “
“We gave Panama’s channel to Panama. We did not give it to China. They have abused that gift,” Trump said at a press conference in early January in Mar-a-Lago.
After the meeting with Rubio, Mulino said during a press conference on Sunday that Panama is looking to finish his participation with the initiative of the Silk of China early, and said that if the country can end the early agreement or not, He will not renew the agreement when he is in a few years. The initiative is an cornerstone of China’s foreign policy.
“The 2017 Memorandum of Understanding about the Belt and Road initiative, Silk Road, will not be renewed by my government,” Mulino said in Spanish.
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz celebrated Mulino’s announcement, describing him as “step in the right direction.”
Rubio’s meeting with the president of Panama mentioned a variety of additional issues, including the migration crisis that currently faces the United States and Latin America, improving the country’s investment and the support of Mulino to a free Venezuela and Democratic, according to the State Department.