T&T joins US in pushback against China pressure on Panama

Trinidad and To­ba­go and Guyana have joined with the Unit­ed States and three oth­er coun­tries in sup­port of Pana­ma’s sov­er­eign­ty, amid con­cerns over what has been de­scribed as tar­get­ed eco­nom­ic pres­sure linked to Chi­na.

In a joint state­ment is­sued by US State De­part­ment, re­ceived ex­clu­sive­ly by Guardian Me­dia, the gov­ern­ments of Trinidad and To­ba­go, Guyana, Bo­livia, Cos­ta Ri­ca, Paraguay and the Unit­ed States un­der­scored a com­mit­ment to re­gion­al se­cu­ri­ty and co­op­er­a­tion, de­clar­ing that “the free­dom of our re­gion is non-ne­go­tiable.”

The coun­tries list­ed in the state­ment are all part of the re­cent­ly formed Shield of the Amer­i­c­as.

The coun­tries said they are “mon­i­tor­ing with vig­i­lance” de­vel­op­ments in­volv­ing Chi­nese eco­nom­ic ac­tions and their re­port­ed im­pact on Pana­ma-flagged ves­sels, de­scrib­ing the sit­u­a­tion as a po­ten­tial threat to hemi­spher­ic sta­bil­i­ty.

Ac­cord­ing to the state­ment, the de­vel­op­ments fol­low a rul­ing by the Supreme Court of Pana­ma con­cern­ing op­er­a­tions at the Bal­boa and Cristóbal ter­mi­nals - two key nodes in glob­al mar­itime trade.

The coali­tion ar­gued that sub­se­quent ac­tions rep­re­sent “a bla­tant at­tempt to politi­cise mar­itime trade and in­fringe on the sov­er­eign­ty of the na­tions of our hemi­sphere.”

Pana­ma was de­scribed as “a pil­lar of our mar­itime trad­ing sys­tem,” with the sig­na­to­ries warn­ing that any ef­fort to un­der­mine its au­ton­o­my could have wider re­gion­al im­pli­ca­tions.

“We stand in sol­i­dar­i­ty with Pana­ma,” the state­ment read, adding that the coali­tion re­mains com­mit­ted to safe­guard­ing peace, se­cu­ri­ty and eco­nom­ic pros­per­i­ty across the Amer­i­c­as.

The de­c­la­ra­tion comes amid height­ened geopo­lit­i­cal ten­sions and in­creas­ing scruti­ny of glob­al trade routes, par­tic­u­lar­ly those pass­ing through the strate­gi­cal­ly vi­tal Pana­ma Canal.

The fol­low­ing is the full state­ment:

"We, the na­tions of Bo­livia, Cos­ta Ri­ca, Guyana, Paraguay, Trinidad and To­ba­go, and the Unit­ed States, stand­ing to­geth­er in our shared mis­sion to se­cure our hemi­sphere, reaf­firm that the free­dom of our re­gion is non-ne­go­tiable.  

We are mon­i­tor­ing with vig­i­lance Chi­na’s tar­get­ed eco­nom­ic pres­sure and the re­cent ac­tions that have af­fect­ed Pana­ma-flagged ves­sels. 

These ac­tions—fol­low­ing the de­ci­sion of Pana­ma’s in­de­pen­dent Supreme Court re­gard­ing the Bal­boa and Cristóbal ter­mi­nals—are a bla­tant at­tempt to politi­cize mar­itime trade and in­fringe on the sov­er­eign­ty of the na­tions of our hemi­sphere.

Pana­ma is a pil­lar of our mar­itime trad­ing sys­tem, and as such must re­main free from any un­due ex­ter­nal pres­sure.  Any at­tempts to un­der­mine Pana­ma’s sov­er­eign­ty are a threat to us all.

We stand in sol­i­dar­i­ty with Pana­ma.  Through our re­newed com­mit­ment to peace, se­cu­ri­ty, and Hemi­spher­ic co­op­er­a­tion, we re­main ded­i­cat­ed to fac­ing all threats to en­sure the Amer­i­c­as re­main a re­gion of free­dom, se­cu­ri­ty, and pros­per­i­ty."