The Secretary of State Marco Rubio seemed to escalate the conflict between Trump administration and Panama on Sunday, and that President Trump's “impact and control” on the Panama canal threaten waterways and demands “immediate change”. He said he did. Division.
Panama President Jose Raul Mulino did not believe that after the meeting, he did not believe that Mr. Rubio had a threat that Trump might move to regain the maritime route built in the United States. We provided another explanation. He said there was almost no risk of such intervention.
However, President Trump told a reporter at the Mary Land Co -base Andrews on Sunday, saying, “We will regain it or something very powerful.”
Rubio, a summary of the Ministry of State's meeting in Panam City, has been the first to be a foreign leader since he became the Secretary of State, and sometimes had an aggressive tone. It told his host that Trump had “reserved” for Trump's dominance of the Chinese government.
“Secretary Rubio has revealed that this situation is unacceptable and there is no immediate change, so it has revealed that it will request the United States to take necessary measures to protect the rights based on the treaty,” said Lubio's Spokeswoman. Tammy Blues said in a summary. The statement mentioned Trump's claim that China's connection with the canal violated the treaty to ensure neutrality.
Blues did not specify what their measures were. Last month, Trump refused to do so, excluding the United States behind the threat to regain the canal, which had been dominated by the United States for almost a century.
However, after meeting Rubio, he talked to the reporters and repeatedly performed the risk that Trump could seize the canal in power or other ways. “There is no doubt that the canal is operated by Panama. I don't think there was a contradiction,” he said.
“I didn't feel a threat,” said Mulino.
Mr. Trump incorrectly claims that China, which was built by the United States in the early 1900s and operated by Americans in the 20th century, operates the canal. The agreement reached by President Jimmy Carter's administration was handed over to Panama in 1999, undertaking a large -scale canal extension so that it can be used for larger ships.
Trump and Rubio are focusing on the fact that Hong Kong -based CK Hatchson Holdings runs the port at both ends of the waterway. They claim that the United States will have a threat of national security, suggesting that the Chinese government will order the company to interfere with transportation. Many experts are skeptical of their claims.
After the Sunday's story, Mulino stated that his government will decide what measures to take after receiving the results of the recently ordered CK Hachiison audit. “We have to wait for the audit to be conducted. We will reach our own legal conclusions and act accordingly,” Mulino told Rubio. He suggested that this was an “update” area.
Trump is not the first US President who was worried about hostile interference on the canal. During World War II, the Roosevelt administration acted to protect the waterway from the Nazi sabotage plan. During the Cold War, the president was worried about what US diplomatic cables in the United States in 1951 were called the “Canal Communist Design.”
In the latter half of Sunday, Rubio moved to the canal itself and toured Miraflores locks near Panama Chuo City. There, the ship ties the Pacific Ocean along the 51 -mile canal to the Caribbean. He met the canal administrator there and visited the elevated control room. It is a huge oil gas tanker with a bright orange hull and Korean lettering slowly approaching.
Rubio is touring five Latin American countries on his first overseas travel as Trump's top diplomat. He will travel to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Dominican on Monday.
In a statement to an employee of the US Embassy in Panama City, Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrant immigrant, joked to the assistant officer that he would like to visit the Spanish place for the first time. I said. “Bilingual”, proceed to show his style Ency to the language.
Rubio recognizes the complex history of the United States with Panama, a former Colombian territory established after the Theodore Roosevelt administration, which is paying attention to the possibility of a shortcut between the Atlantic coast of the United States and the Pacific coast. Ta.
Rubio said that the country was “born here in many ways as a result of US profits,” and that the relationship had “ups and downs.” Downs includes a 1989 invasion to arrest General Manuel Noriega, a factor of the country, on alleged drug trafficking and assault.
Prior to the visit of the Secretary of State, Panama's flag covered Panama City and the street in the old canal area, and was once banned in the era of American rule.
Mr. Bruce, who hits a warmer tone than a harsh passage on the canal, said Rubio, “I thanked Rubio's support for a joint home -country repatriation program that reduced the number of movements through Columbia and Colombia, Dalien Gap. ” Panama is the gateway to hundreds of thousands of immigrants every year.
Murino discusses the expansion of July agreements with the Biden administration, aiming to strengthen the security of the gap, and to re -fund the immigration to Rubio. He said he provided the use of.
Murino has shown that the United States may use Darien's Air Strip for land aircraft that transported immigrants from the United States. He said that Panama would be useful as a transfer point and emphasized that the United States would pay the process.
Mulino also stated on Sunday that Panama, the first country in the area that signed the Belt and Road Initiative in China in 2017, was a wide range of infrastructure programs. He said that the withdrawal would encourage the United States to play a more active role in Panama's project.
In recent years, Mulino said that the United States had left many empty space to satisfy others. After announcing the withdrawal from the Chinese program, Mulino said, “I think this visit is open to build a new era in relation.”
Mary Triny Zea Contributed from Panama City's report.
