President of Panama José Raúl Mulino on Wednesday morning accused President Donald Trump of “lying again” after Trump reiterated his call to take back control of the Panama Canal in a speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.
“Once again, President Trump is lying. The Panama Canal is not in the process of recovery and much less is the task that in our conversations with Secretary Rubio or any other has even been discussed,” Mulino said on social media. “On behalf of Panama and all Panamanians, I reject this new affront to the truth and to our dignity as a nation.”
“Cooperation between our governments is based on clear understandings on issues of mutual interest, as we have been doing. Nothing has to do either with the ‘recovery of the Canal’ or with sullying our national sovereignty,” he continued. “The Canal is Panamanian and will remain Panamanian!”
Trump, during his speech to Congress, said that to enhance national security, the United States will reclaim the Panama Canal and declared “we’ve already started doing it.” He referred to a deal announced hours before the speech between Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings Limited and asset manager BlackRock for the purchase of a majority stake of Panama Ports Company, a Hutchison subsidiary that, since 1997, has administered two ports located at opposite ends of the Panama Canal.
“Just today a large American company announced they are buying both ports around the Panama Canal and lots of other things having to do with the Panama Canal and a couple other canals,” President Trump said. “The Panama Canal was built by Americans for Americans, not for others. But others could use it.”
In December, Trump started a debate over the Panama Canal, an interoceanic trade route built by the United States in 1914 and whose control was handed over to Panama in 1999. The canal left American possession under an agreement signed by both nations during the administration of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Trump has repeatedly expressed that the United States should take back control of the Canal due to the “exorbitant” transit fees imposed on U.S. ships. Increasing U.S. stakes in the canal’s operations could forestall China’s growing influence over the important trade route.
“It was given away by the Carter administration for $1. But that agreement has been violated very severely. We didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back,” President Trump said on Tuesday.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian refuted President Trump’s statements in remarks during his regular briefing on Wednesday.
“On the Panama Canal issue, China supports Panama’s sovereignty over the Canal, and stays committed to maintaining the status of the Canal as a permanently neutral international waterway,” Lin said. “China has never engaged in the management and operation of the Canal. Never ever have we interfered. The so-called China’s control over the Canal is nothing but a lie.”
The Chinese spokesman asserted that he had “no comment” on the deal between Hutchison and BlackRock, but asserted that China supports Chinese companies, “including” those from Hong Kong, which must abide by Chinese law after the Chinese communist regime ended the “One Country, Two Systems” policy in 2020.
“Hope they can have access to a fair and just business environment everywhere they go. We oppose any abuse of coercion and pressuring in international trade and economic relations,” Lin said.
The ongoing debate over the Panama Canal has seen several Panamanian and Chinese government officials dismiss President Trump’s claims of Chinese influence in the trade route and calls to have the United States take back control of it.
In February, the Chinese embassy in Panama claimed that the accusations made by the United States over Chinese influence in the canal were a “pure lie.” The comment was in response to the then-ongoing two-day visit of United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) Commander Adm. Alvin Holsey to the Central American nation. Holsey met with several Panamanian government officials to discuss topics including safeguarding the Panama Canal area from “Chinese Communist Party influence and control.”
President Mulino, in a social media post, referred to Adm. Holsey’s visit by stating that the bilateral agenda with the United States is important and relevant — but stressed that, for Panama, it does not involve analyzing “situations that are not true.”
President Mulino has repeatedly dismissed any possible negotiations pertaining to returning control of the Panama Canal to the United States, asserting that the trade route will remain fully under Panamanian control. Mulino, after stating that he would wait for President Trump to take office on January 20 before issuing any kind of official response, issued a formal letter to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hours after President Trump took office, expressing his “concerns” over Trump’s calls to retake control of the Panama Canal.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
