Source link : https://news7.asia/news/donald-trump-makes-panama-pay-for-its-favors-granted-to-china/
During his inauguration speech on Monday January 20, the new President of the United States, Donald Trump, ultimately did not attack China as directly and harshly as Beijing feared. Instead, he focused on a small country, historically very close to the United States: Panama. He accused it of charging dearly for American ships passing through its famous canal and claimed that China manages operations there. “We didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama and we’re taking it back,” he said. A reference to the two port terminals located at the entrance to the canal, Balboa, on the Pacific Ocean side, and Cristobal, on the Atlantic Ocean side, entrusted, since 1996, to a Hong Kong group, CK Hutchison, built by the wealthy businessman Li Ka-shing, now 96 years old, manages 53 terminals around the world. Panamanian President José Raul Mulino immediately said he rejected Mr. Trump’s words “in their entirety” and complained to the United Nations that the new president of the United States was “undermining the territorial integrity of Panama. But, at the same time, Panama has launched an audit of the terminals, releasing images of its inspectors disembarking from a minibus at the local Hutchison headquarters, an operation that could be aimed at showing that Panama is in full control but also that power is interested in how the contract was renewed in 2023, under a previous government. Although he uses his skill to do so, the American president nevertheless underlines the frustration that the evolution of Panama’s positioning has generated in Washington over the last decade. In 1903, the United States helped the Panamanians, who were then part of Colombia, to become independent. They then launched the construction of the canal from 1904, after the French failure to achieve it. Washington only transferred control of the canal to Panama in 1999, in exchange for a commitment to the permanent neutrality of this strategic waterway for world trade. You have 60.78% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
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Author : News7
Publish date : 2025-01-22 10:07:53
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