Marco Rubio is making his first foreign trip as U.S. secretary of state to Panama, amid threats by President Trump to take back control of the Panama Canal. But Panama's president and its people say that the key global waterway is not for sale.
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00:00A message to U.S. President Donald Trump. Panama is not for sale and the country should
00:10be respected.
00:12These residents in the capital, Panama City, are protesting a visit by the U.S.'s top diplomat,
00:19Marco Rubio, amid threats by Trump to retake control of the Panama Canal.
00:25They want to take over Canada. They want to invade Mexico. They want to take over the
00:32Panama Canal. They want to take over Greenland, Denmark. They want to say that Trump is looking
00:37for the third world war. The people of the world and the governments of the world are
00:43forced to defeat the delirium of the delirious emperor of North America.
00:51Panama has rejected Trump's claims that it's charging the U.S. exorbitant fees to use the
00:58key global waterway. But Trump also says China has outsized sway there.
01:04China is running the Panama Canal. That was not given to China. That was given to Panama
01:10foolishly. But they violated the agreement and we're going to take it back or something
01:15very powerful is going to happen.
01:17Panama and Beijing deny that China is running the canal, which the U.S. built more than
01:23100 years ago and which Panama has fully operated since 1999.
01:29The 82-kilometer waterway links the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, allowing ships to bypass
01:36the long and dangerous route around South America, saving them lots of time and money.
01:43It's central to the world economy. Around 5% of global maritime trade passes through
01:50the Panama Canal every year. And 40% of all U.S. container traffic travels through it,
01:57making it a key U.S. concern.
02:00But Trump and his new Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, are also concerned about expanding
02:06Chinese influence in Latin America. On his first trip abroad since taking office, Rubio
02:12told Panama's president that the country could face potential retaliation if it doesn't reduce
02:18China's role in the Panama Canal, something President José Raúl Molino rejected.
02:35But offering an olive branch to Washington, Molino did say Panama would not be renewing
02:41its agreement with China's flagship Belt and Road infrastructure initiative. Instead,
02:47it will seek to work with the U.S. on new infrastructure projects.
02:51That's a setback for China, which has been deepening its trade and investment links with
02:57Latin America. While Beijing does not operate the Panama Canal, Rubio's visit to it and
03:04Trump's focus on it suggests his administration will push back against China's presence in
03:11the region at large.
03:13Klein Wong and Louise Watt for Taiwan Plus.