US top diplomat warns Panama to reduce Chinese business interests in Canal

US top diplomat Marco Rubio on Sunday warned Panama's leader to take immediate steps to reduce Chinese business interests on the Canal, which President Donald Trump sees as a threat to US national security.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday threatened action against Panama without immediate changes to reduce Chinese influence on the canal, but the country's leader insisted he was not afraid of a US invasion and offered talks.

Rubio, paying his first visit overseas as the top US diplomat, told Panama that President Donald Trump had determined that the country had violated terms of the treaty that handed back the crucial waterway in 1999.

He pointed to the "influence and control" of China over the canal, the vital link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through which some 40 percent of US container traffic passes.

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Meeting President Jose Raul Mulino, Rubio "made clear that this status quo is unacceptable and that absent immediate changes, it would require the United States to take measures necessary to protect its rights under the treaty," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.

Mulino painted a less dire portrait of the meeting. He welcomed Rubio at his official residence in the tropical capital's old quarter, with an honor guard outside the whitewashed walls.

(AFP)


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