Panama complains to UN over Trump canal threat, starts audit
"We reject in its entirety everything that Mr Trump has said. First, because it is false and second because the Panama Canal belongs to Panama and will continue to belong to Panama," Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino says.
Trump, in his inaugural address on Monday, repeated his complaint that China was effectively "operating" the Panama Canal through its growing presence around the waterway. / Photo: AFP
Panama has complained to the United Nations over US President Donald Trump's "worrying" threat to seize the Panama Canal, even as it launched an audit of the Hong Kong-linked operator of two ports on the interoceanic waterway.
In a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the government in Panama City referred to an article of the UN Charter precluding any member from "the threat or use of force" against the territorial integrity or political independence of another.
The missive, distributed to reporters on Tuesday, urges Guterres to refer the matter to the UN Security Council, without asking for a meeting to be convened.
Trump, in his inaugural address on Monday, repeated his complaint that China was effectively "operating" the Panama Canal through its growing presence around the waterway, which the United States handed over at the end of 1999.
"We didn't give it to China, we gave it to Panama. And we're taking it back," Trump said.
Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino hit back that the canal was not a gift from the United States during a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
"We reject in its entirety everything that Mr Trump has said. First, because it is false and second because the Panama Canal belongs to Panama and will continue to belong to Panama," Mulino said on Wednesday.
'Transparent use'
The president has previously denied that any other nation was interfering in the canal, which he said was operated on a principle of neutrality.
Asked on Wednesday about the spat, Beijing denied it had ever "interfered" in the canal.
"China has always respected Panama's sovereignty over the canal and recognised the canal as a permanent neutral international waterway," foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.
The Panamanian comptroller's office that oversees public entities announced "an exhaustive audit" would be launched "aimed at ensuring the efficient and transparent use of public resources" at the Panama Ports Company.
The company, part of Hutchison Ports, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings, operates the ports of Balboa and Cristobal on either end of the canal.
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