The United States will not allow the Panama Canal to be controlled by China. Such a statement, speaking to the faction of the ruling Republican Party of the House of Representatives of the US Congress, was made by President Donald Trump, TASS reports.
According to him, the Panama Canal "has become an urgent topic because China, in fact, took it away."
"And we won't let that happen. We will not give it to China. We, so to speak, gave it to Panama. However, she is not behaving properly," Trump said.
Earlier, he repeatedly spoke about the need to return control of the Panama Canal to the United States. The American president criticized the high tariffs charged for passing through it, stressing that the transfer of control over this facility in 1999 was a "gesture of cooperation" and not a concession to other countries.
In turn, Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino noted that sovereignty over the canal and the country's independence cannot be negotiated. According to media reports, if Trump does not stop exerting pressure on the ownership of the channel, the Panamanian leader intends to appeal to The UN Security Council.
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