State Department — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told top Panamanian leaders Sunday that China is exerting “unacceptable” influence and control of the Panama Canal, which, if not changed, could force the United States to “take measures necessary” to protect its access to the waterway. Rubio told Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino and Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha in Panama City that U.S. President Donald Trump “has made a preliminary determination that the current position of influence and control of the Chinese Communist Party over the Panama Canal area is a threat” to canal operations, the State Department said. The statement did not detail what the U.S. perceives as China’s undue influence over the 82-kilometer passageway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, what actions the U.S. might take, or what Mulino’s response was to Rubio’s assessment. Mulino in recent days has rejected criticism from the new U.S. government over Panama’s management of the waterway that is vital to global trade. The Panamanian leader has said there will be no negotiation with the U.S. over ownership of the canal, and some Panamanians have staged protests over Trump’s plans. The American-built canal was turned over to the Panamanians in 1999 and they object strongly to Trump’s demand to return ownership to the U.S. On Sunday, about 200 people marched in Panama City, carrying Panamanian flags and shouting, “Marco Rubio out of Panama,” “Long live national sovereignty” and “One territory, one flag” while the meeting was taking place. Some burned a banner with images of Trump and Rubio but were stopped short of reaching the presidential palace by riot police. The State Department said that Rubio, on his first overseas trip as the top U.S. diplomat, “also emphasized the importance of collaborative efforts to end the hemisphere’s illegal migration crisis,” a key Trump focus in the earliest days of his second term in the White House to keep out undocumented migrants and deport millions already living in the U.S. The State Department said Rubio thanked Mulino “for his support of a joint repatriation program, which has reduced illegal migration through the Darien Gap,” a remote, roadless area connecting Central and South America that migrants have trekked through to get to the U.S. Rubio’s trip will also take him to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. It will include talks with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves, Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo and Dominican President Luis Abinader. This marks the first time in more than 100 years that a U.S. secretary of state’s first official visit abroad is to Latin America, according to Mauricio Claver-Carone, the U.S. special envoy for Latin America. Officials and experts say the visit is partly aimed at countering China’s growing influence in the region. The trip comes as Trump pushes to regain control of the Panama Canal, and as Washington intensifies efforts to curb illegal migration. “Secretary Rubio’s engagements with senior officials and business leaders will promote regional cooperation on our core, shared interests: Stopping illegal and large-scale migration, fighting the scourge of transnational criminal organizations and drug traffickers, countering China, and deepening economic partnerships to enhance prosperity in our hemisphere,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement Friday. Trump has asserted that China controls the Panama Canal. But Panama has denied the claim, insisting that it manages the canal impartially for all maritime traffic. On Thursday, Rubio warned that China could potentially block access to the canal in the event of a conflict. “If the government in China in a conflict tells them to shut down the Panama Canal, they will have to. And in fact, I have zero doubt that they have contingency planning to do so. That is a direct threat,” Rubio said during an interview with SiriusXM Radio. In Panama City, Mulino ruled out any discussion of control over the canal with Rubio. “I cannot negotiate and much less open a process of negotiation on the canal,” he told reporters Thursday. “That is sealed. The canal belongs to Panama.” During a Friday briefing, Claver-Carone warned of the “increasingly creeping presence” of Chinese companies in the canal zone, spanning ports to telecommunications infrastructure. He called it a serious concern not only for U.S. national security but also for Panama and the entire Western Hemisphere. Some analysts caution that China has been employing both economic and non-economic tactics across the Western Hemisphere to expand its influence, prompting national security concerns. “You might think that you are just getting more Chinese investment in your country, but pretty soon you are kind of being coerced or coaxed into signing at the Belt and Road Initiative, or you’re being coaxed into signing, another deal that gives elements of your telecoms,” said Ryan Berg, director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, during an online discussion on Thursday. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a massive infrastructure project launched by China in 2013 under President Xi Jinping, aiming to connect multiple continents through land and maritime routes. The United States has cautioned that the BRI “is fueled by China’s mission to manipulate and undermine the global rules-based trading system for its own benefit.” China’s foreign direct investment (FDI) in Latin America and the Caribbean has grown significantly, Berg noted. He added that five countries in the region already have free trade agreements with China, while two others are currently negotiating such deals. “From the lens of national security, a lot of China’s commercial endeavors are fundamentally military ambitions that they’re pre-positioning into Latin America,” said Joseph Humire, executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society, a national security research group. “China’s been in Panama for more than 20 years, but China really got politically active in Panama after 2017,” when Panama signed the BRI and shifted its diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to the People’s Republic of China, Humire said last week. He noted that Panama’s economy has declined in recent years. All the nations on Rubio’s itinerary currently maintain diplomatic ties with both Cuba and Venezuela. Given the strained U.S. relations with these countries and their restrictions on accepting deportees, Rubio may use his trip to advocate for “third-country” agreements, allowing other nations to receive individuals deported by the U.S. Additionally, he could work on facilitating increased repatriation flights for migrants. On Friday, Trump’s envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, met with Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s long-time socialist leader, as the Trump administration intensifies its deportation and anti-gang efforts. Grenell achieved one of his main goals of the trip, securing the release of six American detainees, who left Venezuela with him Friday.
