Quotes
Above all, China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back,
Trump claimed in his inaugural speech last month China will continue to make investment in Panama if the Central American nation needs the money, and China will continue to trade with Panama,
said Jiang Shixue, director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Shanghai University If there’s a conflict and China tells them, do everything you can to obstruct the canal so that the US can’t engage in trade and commerce, so that the US military and naval fleet cannot get to the Indo-Pacific fast enough, they would have to do it,
Rubio said in an interview with journalist Megyn Kelly, without directly naming the company Control of strategic chokepoints like the Panama Canal is probably among China’s goals,
said Will Freeman, Fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York All of these operations, and the relationships with Panama Canal Authority … plus the technical knowledge that you get as a regular operator of the canal basically multiplies the possibilities that if you are (China) and you want to shut down the canal at a time of conflict, there are a thousand ways to do it,
he said, pointing to actions like attacking lock control systems or physically blocking the waterway American pressure is so huge,
Why are they making an important institutional statement from the entity that governs the foreign policy of the US, under the president of the US, based on a falsehood?"
Mulino asked, calling the claim "simply and plainly intolerable". It's not as if the canal toll is breaking the economy of the United States,
If they violate the terms of the concession or cause imminent economic harm to the country, we will act accordingly, but for now the audit is ongoing,
And we’re going to take it back, or something very powerful is going to happen,
I am extremely surprised by yesterday’s state department announcement because they are making important statements … based on a falsehood, and this is intolerable, quite simply intolerable.”
On Thursday, Mulino rebuffed the state department’s assertion in even more emphatic terms, telling reporters Absent immediate changes, it would require the United States to take measures necessary to protect its rights.”
Yesterday’s announcement by President [Mulino] that Panama will allow its participation in the CCP’s Belt and Road Initiative to expire is a great step forward for US-Panama relations, a free Panama Canal, and another example of [Trump’s] leadership to protect our national security and deliver prosperity for the American people,
Rubio wrote Monday on social media It might be that you’ll have to do something."
