{"id":302871,"date":"2025-11-20T08:51:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T08:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/302871\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T08:51:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T08:51:08","slug":"panamanian-lawmakers-taiwan-trip-sparks-diplomatic-row-with-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/302871\/","title":{"rendered":"Panamanian lawmakers’ Taiwan trip sparks diplomatic row with China"},"content":{"rendered":"

PANAMA CITY — A planned trip by some Panamanian lawmakers to Taiwan has unleashed the latest diplomatic spat with China<\/a> as the Central American country tries to navigate the turbulent waters between the Asian superpower and the United States.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Panama\u2019s Foreign Relations Ministry and the U.S. ambassador to the country criticized China\u2019s diplomats in Panama for asking the lawmakers to cancel their trip to Taiwan, with the ministry accusing the Chinese Embassy of \u201cmeddling\u201d in internal Panamanian affairs. <\/p>\n

This followed comments from Panama President Jos\u00e9 Ra\u00fal Mulino a week earlier saying that the planned Taiwan trip did not have the approval of his administration and reminding the lawmakers that the executive branch was responsible for Panama\u2019s foreign policy.<\/p>\n

China claims Taiwan, a self-governing island off its coast, as its territory and has staged threatening military drills in the surrounding waters<\/a> in recent years.<\/p>\n

China has also been embroiled in a spat<\/a> with Japan after new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi<\/a> said on Nov. 7 that a Chinese naval blockade or other action against Taiwan could be grounds for a Japanese military response. Her comments drew a warning from China<\/a> against any interference in Taiwan.<\/p>\n

In Latin America, Chinese diplomats have worked to get governments to establish diplomatic relations with it and cut ties to Taiwan.<\/p>\n

Panama established relations with China in 2017 after breaking them off with Taiwan.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has brought the weight of the U.S. government to bear on the issue this year, starting with accusations that China could influence the operations of the strategically important Panama Canal<\/a> because a Hong Kong-based conglomerate<\/a> held the long-term concession to operate ports at either end of the canal. The canal\u2019s administration and the Panamanian government have denied that China had any sway over canal operations.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Panama\u2019s Foreign Relations Ministry said in a statement that \u201cas a sovereign country, it does not accept restrictions, nor pressure that tries to influence the legitimate decisions of its subordinates.\u201d The statement did not name China, but came a day after one of the country\u2019s largest newspapers, La Prensa, reported that 10 lawmakers were asked by the Chinese Embassy to immediately cancel the trip because it \u201cseriously violates the principle of one China\u201d and constitutes \u201can intervention in Chinese internal affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Chinese Embassy referred a request from The Associated Press to the reporting from La Prensa.<\/p>\n

Mulino has lamented that Panama has been drawn into the U.S.-China tensions.<\/p>\n

When Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Panama<\/a> on his first trip as the U.S. top diplomat in February, he made China\u2019s influence a top issue. Mulino said then that Panama would not be renewing its agreement with China\u2019s Belt and Road Initiative<\/a> when it expires. The initiative promotes and funds infrastructure and development projects that critics say leave poor member countries heavily indebted to China.<\/p>\n

In August, U.S. Ambassador to Panama Kevin Marino Cabrera gave public backing to Panamanian lawmakers who joined the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a group of hundreds of lawmakers from dozens of countries concerned about how democracies approach Beijing.<\/p>\n

In September, the Trump administration said it was restricting visas \u201cfor Central American nationals who, while in Central American countries and intentionally acting on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), knowingly direct, authorize, fund, provide significant support to, or carry out activities that undermine the rule of law in Central America.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the lawmakers who planned to make the Taiwan trip later this week defended their decision. Some said the trip would expose them to models and experiences that could help Panama\u2019s modernization, others cited opportunities for investment and cooperation.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Cabrera addressed the controversy, saying that China\u2019s Embassy \u201cshouldn\u2019t be involved in those issues.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PANAMA CITY — A planned trip by some Panamanian lawmakers to Taiwan has unleashed the latest diplomatic spat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[157450,23,966,793,962,3,111,21,19,22,20,25,24,965],"class_list":["post-302871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-157450","tag-america","tag-article","tag-general-news","tag-government-policy","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}