The spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lin Jian, at a press conference in Beijing on March 20, 2024. Tingshu Wang / Reuters China denounced, on Friday, February 7, the “Cold War Mentality” of the United States in Latin America. This cooling between Beijing and Washington occurs around the Panama Canal, after a tour of Marco Rubio in Central America, his first as head of American diplomacy. The latter threatened to take action against Panama if he did not make immediate changes to reduce the supposed influence of China on the channel. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers in Central America, requests for variable geometry of Marco Rubio on immigration and Chinese presence read later in response, China castigated, on Friday, “false comments” of the American Secretary of State and “Impents of Cold War mentality,” said she had officially protested with Washington. “These words contain unfounded accusations against China” and “deliberately sow discord” between China and Latin America, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. From his inauguration, on January 20, the American president, Donald Trump, said he wanted to “regain” control of the Panama Canal, a strategic for world trade, to counter what he presents as the influence of China. Built by the United States and inaugurated in 1914, the canal, 80 kilometers long, went under Panamanian control at the end of 1999. According to Washington, the growing influence of China around the canal, by which transits 40 % American container traffic, threatens American interests and could allow Beijing to paralyze traffic in the event of a conflict. Panama withdrawal of “new silk roads” The Panamanian president, José Raul Mulino, confirmed on Thursday, the withdrawal of his country from the Chinese infrastructure project of “new silk roads”. Central axis of the Chinese strategy to increase its influence abroad, this project, to which more than a hundred countries have joined, aims in particular to build maritime, road and rail infrastructures, mainly in developing nations. Marco Rubio had described Panama’s decision as “a big step” to strengthen relations with Washington. “China firmly opposes the United States to use pressure and coercion to denigrate and undermine cooperation” as part of this project, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry of Foreign Ministry said on Friday . “We deeply deplore” the withdrawal of Panama and hope that it “will rule out external interference and make the right decision,” he added during a press conference. According to Western detractors of “new silk roads”, this project is likely to enclose certain member countries in debt and promotes Chinese companies to the detriment of local economies. “The attacks and interference of the American party in cooperation in this area once again reveal its hegemonic nature,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry of Foreign Affairs deplored on Friday. Read also | Article reserved for our Greenland subscribers, Panama: Donald Trump revives Theodore Roosevelt imperialism later read the world with AFP reusing this content
Author : News7
Publish date : 2025-02-07 13:59:06
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