Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino said on Sunday afternoon that his country will be withdrawing from communist China’s predatory Belt and Road Initiative after meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Rubio’s trip comes as President Donald Trump has signaled that he is willing to use military power to retake control of the Panama Canal if the country does not regain complete control over the operations of the canal from China.
“One important thing, which is a decision I made and communicated to him, is that the 2017 memorandum of understanding on the Silk Road, part of the Belt and Road Initiative, will not be renewed by my government,” Mulino said. “That is a fact.”
“We are going to study the possibility of whether it can be ended earlier or not,” he continued. “I think it is up for renewal in one or two years, because it’s every three.”
“So that…
