By Enyichukwu Enemanna
President of Panama says there is no discussion between himself and Donald Trump, regarding the control of the Panama Canal, which the US president-elect threatened will likely be returned to Washington upon his inauguration.
“If there is an intention to talk, then there’s nothing to talk about,” President Jose Raul Mulino told a weekly press conference.
He also ruled out the possibility of reducing canal tolls fee paid by US vessels, adding that China had no influence over the vital waterway, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
“There is absolutely no Chinese interference or participation in anything to do with the Panama Canal,” Mulino said.
“The canal is Panamanian and belongs to Panamanians. There’s no possibility of opening any kind of conversation around this reality, which has cost the country blood, sweat and tears,” he maintained.
Inaugurated in 1914, the canal was built by the United States but handed to over to Panama on December 31, 1999, under agreements signed some two decades earlier by then-US president Jimmy Carter and Panamanian nationalist leader Omar Torrijos.
Trump had on Saturday slammed what he called unfair fees for US ships passing through the canal and hinted at China’s growing influence.
If Panama could not ensure “the secure, efficient and reliable operation” of the channel, “then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question,” he said.
Responding to allegation of unfair charges, Mulino said the usage fees were “not set at the whim of the president or the administrator” of the interoceanic waterway, but under a long-established “public and open process.”
On Tuesday, dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the US embassy in Panama City chanting “Trump, animal, leave the canal alone”.
They also set images of the incoming President of US on fire.
