“According to Jose Mulino, his country will use international law as a way to regulate relations between countries”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“I repeat what I said in my address to the nation on December 22: the canal is and will be owned by Panama and its management will remain under Panamanian control under permanent neutrality. No state in the world can interfere in the management of the channel,” the statement said.
The president emphasized that since 1999, as a result of the Torrijos-Carter agreement, Panama has continuously managed and expanded the canal “to serve the world and its trade, including the United States.”
According to Jose Mulino, his country will use international law as a way to regulate relations between countries, in particular with the United States.
In his inaugural speech on January 20, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, said that the United States plans to establish control over the Panama Canal. According to Trump, the agreements regarding the Panama Canal “have been completely violated” and the canal is “run by China.”
At a press conference on January 7, Donald Trump refused to rule out the possibility of using military force to achieve his goal: establishing US control over the Panama Canal and Greenland.
Panama’s foreign minister responded by declaring that the canal’s sovereignty was “non-negotiable”: “the only hands that control the canal are Panamanian hands, and it will always be so.”
The Panama Canal, put into operation in 1914, was built by the United States and was under their control. In 1977, the Torrijos-Carter Agreement established the phased transfer of the Panama Canal, which was completed in 1999. This treaty provided for the canal’s neutrality and its availability for world trade.
China does not control or operate the canal, but Hong Kong-based subsidiary CK Hutchison Holdings has long operated two ports located at the canal’s Caribbean and Pacific entrances.