Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo rejected that China control the Panama Canal as the former president of USADonald Trump, whose government was characterized by tensions between the two largest economies in the world.
“Trump is totally wrong” in his assertions, Cortizo told reporters during a community work visit in the western province of Bocas del Toro, the Panamanian presidency said in a statement.
“The world knows that the Panama Canal it is managed and well managed by the Panamanians”, he added.
Trump, who is seeking the White House again and is the favorite to win the Republican presidential candidacy according to various polls, referred to the interoceanic channel in an interview published on the X social network, formerly called Twitter.
“We sold it under the Jimmy Carter period… now they’ve made it much bigger, they’ve expanded it, they’ve doubled it, it’s one of the most profitable things, it’s just incredible, we give it away for a dollar, China controls it now, currently they control the Panama Canal“, said Trump.
Although Trump’s words are part of his electoral fireworks, they suggest that USA —under an upcoming Democratic or Republican government— will maintain its confrontational position with China at the geopolitical level, but this will not affect the inertia of the operation of the strategic interoceanic highway.
He Panama Canalone of the main sea routes for world trade, has been administered since December 31, 1999 by Panamato which the United States transferred control on that date in accordance with the Torrijos-Carter treaties of 1977.
China, one of the main users of the canal, is the second largest economy in the world after USA in some measurements.
Cortizo recalled, according to the statement, that it is not the first time that Trump misrepresents the topic. Trump aspires to return to the White House and various surveys indicate him as the favorite to win the Republican presidential candidacy with a view to the 2024 elections in the United States despite the various legal proceedings against him.
The Panamanian president mentioned that during the pandemic received a call from the then president Trump for the delivery of ventilators and told him on that occasion, without evidence, that the Panama Canal It was administered by China.
Beijing makes multimillion-dollar investments in infrastructure in various parts of the world to facilitate its foreign trade.
(With information from AP)
Source: Gestion
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