The Panama channel will be removed from the Chinese influence, “says the Pentagon President – my country

The United States will regain Panama channel From the Chinese influence, US Defense Minister Higseth House He said on Tuesday during a visit to the Central American nation.

Higseth pledged, after talks with the Panama government, to deepen security cooperation with the Panama forces and said that China would not be allowed to “weapons” the channel to use the commercial relations of Chinese companies to spy.

“We will restore the Panama channel from China’s influence,” said Higseth, speaking at a pavement that was renewed with the help of the United States in Panama.

“China has not built this channel. China does not work on this channel and China will not have the weapon of this channel. With Panama at the forefront, we will keep the channel safe and available to all countries.”

More than 40 % of the American container movement, which is estimated at about 270 billion US dollars per year, passes through the Panama channel, which represents more than two thirds of ships that pass every day across the waterway in the second world.

It is expected that a closer look at the Panama channel will be later on Tuesday, the first full day of a rare visit to a nation that is still unstable because of Trump’s threats to restore the channel.

While Higseth talked about the removal of Chinese influence, Trump spoke in wider terms and was not excluded from using military force, if necessary.

Higseth is the first US defense minister to visit decades, and his journey followed reports that the Trump administration had requested options from the US military to ensure access to the channel, which the United States built more than a century ago and was handed over to Panama in 1999.

Trump complained that this was a bad deal for the United States.

The Minister of Public Security in Panama received Frank Abugo, the Minister of Public Security in Panama, and held closed meetings with President Jose Raul Moulino and other officials.

Looking at Trump’s cruel speech, the risks are great for visiting Higseth.

“On the whole, this was not a profitable issue for the United States in terms of public diplomacy in Panama,” said Ryan Berg, director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

However, current and former American officials and experts say the United States has found a partner ready to address the Chinese influence in Molino.

In February, Molino announced the official step of Panama to get out of the Belt and Roads initiative in China, and Trump’s suppression helped immigrants.

He accepted the non -bangs deportations and worked to revise migration from South America by those who cross through Darren’s dangerous forest in his country.

Higseth praised Molino, saying that his government understood the threat from China, and his statements about Panama’s leadership in addressing the security concerns of the channel were a reference to Panamanian sensitivities.

Higseth, an old American military warrior and a former Fox News host, supported the security agenda that focuses on Trump enthusiastically, by sending American forces to the American border with Mexico and providing military aircraft to deport deportations.

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Trump falsely claimed that China is running the channel, which Higseth said was incorrect on Tuesday, and that the Chinese soldiers were present.

But experts recognize American security interests, especially with regard to espionage, with a wide -traumatic commercial in Panama, which also includes plans from Chinese companies to build a bridge over the channel.

Last month, Trump celebrated a deal led by the American company Blackrock to buy most of the $ 22.8 billion Port works for CK Hutchison, including its ports on both sides of Panama.

Trump said the purchase was an example of how the United States “restored” the channel.

But China criticized this, as the market organizer says it will be a review of the monopoly of the deal.

The current and former US officials say that the Panama channel will be necessary for the passage of American warships during any future conflict in Asia, because the naval ships will turn from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean to support the war effort.

Even without preventing the channel, China can have a huge feature by the ability to wipe the vessels it passes.

However, John Feli, who was an American ambassador in Panama from 2015 to 2018, opposed the Trump administration’s assertion that China’s presence in Panama was a violation of the United States Treaty.

Lily said: “What is not legitimate in the way Trump went on this is the bullying tactic he used, which is the claim that there is a violation of the neutral treaty. There was no.”

Mulino defended the Panama administration of the channel, saying that it was dealt with responsibly trade in the world, including those in the United States, and that it “will, and will remain, Panamomoria.”

–Reporting Phil Stewart; Adrees Ali; Editing Clarence Fernandez, Roses Nickel and Alexeer Bell