PANAMA CITY — Panama’s president said Thursday that he had instructed the country’s foreign minister to not discuss the U.S. government’s allegations of Chinese interference in the operations of the Panama Canal with the visiting head of U.S. Southern Command.
The comments followed a dustup the day before when the U.S. embassy in Panama said one of the agenda items for Adm. Alvin Holsey’s visit would be discussing “efforts to protect the canal area from Chinese Communist Party influence & control.”
The Chinese Embassy in Panama quickly shot back with a statement saying the country has “never participated in the management nor operation of the Panama Canal.” It called allegations by the Trump administration that China controls the canal “pure lies.” It accused the U.S. government of trying to “sabotage” relations between China and Panama, but said its efforts will fail.
Mulino waded into the dispute Thursday morning at his weekly press briefing, expressing exasperation over the persistence of the issue since before Trump took office threatening to take back control of the Panama Canal.
“We are not going to speak of lies,” Mulino said. “That would be to expand on the fascination created over the issue of China in Panama and the control of the Communist Party of the canal. For the love of God.”
Mulino has earlier tried to calm the situation with a post on the social platform X. “The bilateral agenda with the U.S. is important and relevant,” he wrote. “However, for Panama, that does not mean analyzing situations that aren’t true. We aren’t going to speak about what is not reality, but rather those issues that interest both countries.”
Mulino said Thursday that Panama has a team of people working in Washington, not only lobbying on the issue of the canal, but also trying to change the narrative in news coverage of the issue.
Holsey met with the Panama Canal’s administrator Thursday to discuss its strategic importance.
The admiral is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Panama since Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited earlier this month.
China’s alleged influence on the canal was at the top of his agenda, along with Panama’s efforts to assist the U.S. in controling immigration.
U.S. concerns focus on a Hong Kong-based consortium that runs port facilities at either end of the canal. The canal itself is managed and operated by Panama and Panama has said the consortium’s 25-year extension to run the ports is being audited.
Trump has also complained that U.S. warships are charged for transiting while also obligated to protect it.
The United States built the canal in the early 1900s as it looked for ways to facilitate the transit of commercial and military vessels between its coasts. Washington relinquished control of the waterway to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter.