China's presence around the Panama Canal is a national security concern that Panama's government has to deal with, Mauricio Claver-Carone, the U.S. special envoy for Latin America, said on Friday, ahead of U.S. top diplomat Marco Rubio's visit to the country, APA reports citing Reuters.
Rubio will depart on Saturday on his first foreign trip, with a scheduled visit to the canal and a meeting with Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino, the first talks between the countries since President Donald Trump'sthreat to take control of the U.S.-built canal.
Rubio will also visit El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, where the Trump administration's efforts to repatriate migrants from the region and stem migration into the U.S. will be on the agenda, Claver-Carone said in a briefing call with reporters.
Claver-Carone said it was not Mulino's fault that China's presence around the canal "got completely out of hand" under previous Panamanian governments, but added that the Panamanian president now "has to deal with it."
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