Excerpt
Panama Says It Will Not Renew ‘Belt and Road’ Agreement With China
The announcement followed President José Raúl Mulino’s meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Panama City on Feb. 2.
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino said on Feb. 2 that his country will not renew its memorandum of understanding with the Chinese regime to be a part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Speaking to reporters, Mulino said the agreement is due for renewal in two years and his government is looking into the possibility of terminating it earlier, according to local media reports.
“We are going to study the possibility of whether it can be finished earlier or not,” he said in Spanish. “I think it is due for renewal in one or two years.”
Mulino made the announcement after a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Panama City earlier in the day, during which Rubio called on Panama to urgently address the CCP’s influence over the region.
The Trump administration had accused the country of failing to ensure the U.S.-built Panama Canal’s neutrality, which was a requirement set forth by the “Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal” of 1977. The treaty paved the way for the United States to hand control of the canal to Panama in 1999.
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