Panama announces the departure of the Agreement from the New Seda Route

“Our Ambassador in Beijing presented the document corresponding to the agreement to announce the cancellation 90 days in advance,” Mulino said at a press conference, emphasizing that the decision came totally from him.

The measure, which was confirmed on Thursday by the Panamanian government itself, comes after pressure from the US to reduce the alleged Chinese influence on the Panama Canal, something Panama denies existence.

The American Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, made a diplomatic trip last week to Central America and Dominican Republic countries, which had a stop at Panama.

At the time, Donald Trump’s government representative said the US could “take action” against the Central American country if China’s influence on the channel is not reduced.

According to Rubio clarified to President Panamenho at the meeting, the White House believes that Beijing’s presence in the channel area may violate a neutrality treaty that led the US to deliver the waterway, built by Panama in 1999.

Analysts believe that Trump’s latest statements may be related to the fact that some of the companies that operate the ports around the channel are Chinese. “The adjacent ports, all of them, have no voice in channel administration. None. Nor in channel operation, control or maintenance. They are, as they are called, auxiliary activities. That is, they serve a purpose in navigation that uses the channel, but they have absolutely nothing to do with the channel, ”argued Mulino.

Panama’s five main ports are operated by US multinationals, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Two of these ports, Balboa (Pacific) and Cristobal (Atlântico) – right at the respective channel entrances – are operated by a subsidiary of CK Hutchison Holdings, a Hong Kong -based multinational, which is now being audited by the Panamanian authorities.

The Panama Canal was built by the US, which inaugurated it in 1914 and administered it until its transfer to the Panamanian State on December 31, 1999, as established in the Torrijos-Carter treaties signed on September 7, 1977 in Washington between the then President Jimmy Carter and General Panamano Omar Torrijos.

The initiative of the new Silk Route involves an investment from China in infrastructure projects in developing countries and has gained a lot of space in recent years in Latin America.