 "China summons Panama’s envoy after BRI exit amid US pressure on canal control")
Following US President Donald Trump’s threat to take back the Panama Canal, China has summoned Panama’s ambassador to the country to pull out of the multi-billion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
China’s Assistant Foreign Minister Zhao Zhiyuan summoned Panama’s ambassador, Miguel Humberto Lecaro Barcenas, on Friday following Panama’s decision not to renew the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Expressing deep regret over Panama’s move, Zhao said that the BRI framework had facilitated rapid growth in bilateral cooperation, leading to significant achievements across multiple sectors and delivering concrete benefits to Panama and its citizens.
He emphasized that over 150 countries actively engage in the BRI, with its projects benefiting people worldwide, including those in Panama.
The BRI, a flagship initiative of Chinese President Xi Jinping, has seen China invest heavily in infrastructure projects globally, providing loans to support their development.
The BRI projects attracted criticism for being debt traps as many countries struggled to pay back Chinese loans.
“Any attempts to reverse the course on the BRI and go against the expectations of the Chinese and Panamanian people do not align with the vital interests of Panama,” Zhao said.
He said China firmly opposes the United States wantonly undermining the China-Panama relations and discrediting and undermining cooperation under the BRI through pressure and threats, Zhao said.
It is hoped that Panama will exclude external interference and make the right decision based on the overall situation of bilateral relations and the long-term interests of the two peoples, he said.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsUS Secretary of State Marco Rubio during his visit to Panama had earlier warned Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino that the US would take “measures necessary” if it did not take immediate steps to end China’s influence and control over the Panama Canal.
Mulino on Thursday announced Panama’s exit from the Chinese project.
“I do not know what was the intention of those who signed this agreement with China. What has it brought to Panama all these years?” he was quoted as saying by Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post.
“What are the great things that this Belt and Road Initiative has brought to the country? So, no [we will not participate],” he said.
China’s foreign ministry on Friday said it firmly opposed actions by the US to “discredit and undermine” cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative through “pressure and coercion”.
Spokesman Lin Jian said China hoped Panama would “make the right decision”.
Commenting on the US decision, Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University in Beijing, said: “The US is desperately trying to counter China’s influence, and because it cannot comprehensively confront it, it is doing so by attacking … weaker links.” The huge influx of Chinese capital and investments into Panama in recent years had prompted the US to try to “regain control” over the Latin American economy, he told the Post.
Trump’s threats could pose some challenges for China, Alvin Camba, a critical materials specialist at Associated Universities Incorporated, told the Post.
He said Panama’s withdrawal from the Belt and Road Initiative could potentially trigger a “domino effect”, leading other countries in Latin America and globally to follow suit.
Camba noted that while Panama’s withdrawal did not necessarily mean a diminishing of China’s economic involvement in the region but it did mean the Chinese government would have “fewer avenues to exert its influence through these initiatives”, and represented a “setback” for Beijing.
With inputs from agencies
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