US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Feb 2 warned Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino that Washington will "take measures necessary" if Panama does not immediately take steps to end what US President Donald Trump sees as China's influence and control over the Panama Canal.
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00:00I would say that the most important issues discussed were those inherent to the Canal
00:26in function of what President Trump mentioned about the presence of China.
00:31In this sense, I made the voice of dismissal, opening, of course, the considerations
00:38so that the technical team of the Canal with which the United States is designated,
00:42can talk about it and can clarify all the doubts that they may continue to have about it.
00:47We also address with a lot of explanation the issue of the Chinese ports in the Canal,
00:57explaining that for the first time in the history of that concession, since 1997 to date,
01:02two ports belonging to the same company are audited by the authorities
01:08corresponding to the Republic of Panama and that, as it corresponds, we have to wait
01:14for that audit to end in order to draw our own legal conclusions and act in concordance.
01:21The sovereignty of Panama is not in question. That is very important.
01:26There is no doubt that the Canal is operated by our country and will continue to be so.
01:30I do not believe that there has been a discrepancy in that.
01:35The President has his opinion about the presence of China,
01:39which will be clarified at the time in the technical instances of the Canal.
01:44What Panama has done is terrible financial security for this part of the world.
01:57And, you know, 70% of the signage on the Panama Canal was written in Chinese.
02:03That's not right. It wasn't meant for China. It should have never been made.
02:08The deal was a ridiculous deal. We lost 38,000 people building the Panama Canal.
02:14One of the great wonders of the world.
02:17Think of it. It was the most expensive project ever built by this country,
02:22if you take it forward. The most expensive project ever built. We lost 38,000.
02:27And what happens? China owns it all of a sudden? It's not going to happen.
02:32We're not going to let that happen.
02:33We have national security concerns and they wouldn't let it happen either.
02:44you