US secretary of state Marco Rubio has welcomed Panama’s decision to let its participation in China’s global infrastructure plan expire, calling the move “a great step forward” for its ties with the United States.
Any move by Panama to distance itself from Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) represents a win for Washington, which has argued that Beijing uses the scheme for “debt trap diplomacy” to cement its global influence.
Rubio this week made his first overseas trip as the top US diplomat under Donald Trump to Panama, a close US partner in Latin America, and put pressure on the country over its ties with China.
After talks with Rubio, Panama’s president José Raúl Mulino said his country’s broad agreement to contribute to the Chinese initiative will not be renewed, and could be terminated early. He said the deal was set to expire in two to three years, but did not elaborate.
“Yesterday’s announcement by President @JoseRaulMulino that Panama will allow its participation in the CCP’s belt and road initiative to expire is a great step forward for US-Panama relations, a free Panama Canal, and another example of @POTUS leadership to protect our national security and deliver prosperity for the American people,” Rubio posted on X after departing the country.
China’s embassy in Washington did not respond immediately to a request for comment on the initiative or canal issues.
Panama was the first Latin American country to officially endorse the BRI in November 2017, five months after switching diplomatic ties from Taiwan to China.
China rejects western criticism of the initiative, saying more than 100 countries have joined it, and that it has boosted global development with new ports, bridges, railways and other projects.
Nonetheless, it has faced controversy, with some partner nations criticising the high cost of projects and struggling to repay loans. Italy withdrew from the initiative in 2023 amid US pressure over concerns about Beijing’s economic reach.
Such US concerns have long extended to some Chinese companies’ operations near the Panama Canal, including a Hong Kong-based firm operating two ports, one at each end of the waterway that was built by the US in the early 20th century and then handed over to Panama in 1999.
Two Chinese state-owned firms are separately building a fourth bridge over one of the canal’s entrances.
The US state department said on Sunday that Rubio delivered a message from Trump that China’s presence there was a threat to the canal and a violation of the US-Panama treaty.
After talks with Rubio, Mulino signalled a willingness to review the 25-year concession to Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings, renewed in 2021 for the operation of the two entrance ports, pending the results of an audit.
The contract has been targeted by US lawmakers and the government as an example of China’s expansion in Panama, which they say goes against a neutrality treaty signed by both countries in 1977.
Rubio, speaking to reporters after landing in San Salvador on the next leg of his Latin American trip, called Mulino a friend to the US, and Panama a strong partner and ally. He said his visit had achieved “potentially really good things”.
“We don’t want to have a hostile or negative relationship with Panama,” Rubio said.
Ryan Berg, director of the Americas Program at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the audit could provide a way to unwind the concessions if it shows the deals were marred by corruption.
“That provides more legal framework for Panama to wiggle out of the concessions and for Panama to reopen them such that an American company or a European company might come in and win the bid,” Berg said.
