Panamanian President Mulino refutes the US government’s allegations of "Chinese intervention in the Panama Canal."
He pointed out that the US repeatedly hypes this issue without ever providing a single concrete piece of evidence, and he is very annoyed by this “repeated narrative thousands of times.”
In an exclusive interview with Panama's TVN Television and Tremetro Television, he said that he had requested clarification from the visiting US Secretary of Defense Hegseth and US Secretary of State Rubio on what China had done to interfere in the waters and management of the Panama Canal, but the two senior US officials "never provided me with even a single piece of specific evidence."
He quoted Hegseth as saying: "(Chinese intervention in the Panama Canal) is more of a 'perception' rather than a 'reality.'"
Mulino said that Chinese people participated in the construction of the canal, and a cemetery is dedicated to the Chinese workers who sacrificed their lives building the canal in Panama.
He said: "We have a vibrant, hard-working, and business-savvy Chinese community."