Exclusive | When Panama’s leader opens Beijing embassy during official visit, it will be a ‘decade-long dream come true’

President Juan Carlos Varela’s week in China will also see him inking at least 15 bilateral trade deals, says Panama’s inaugural envoy to China in an exclusive interview with the Post

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Panama established diplomatic ties with China in June in a major victory for Beijing. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 8:00am, 14 Nov 2017Updated: 9:55am, 14 Nov 2017

When Panama’s President Juan Carlos Varela arrives in Beijing on Thursday to witness the opening of its brand new embassy, it would be a dream 10 years in the making.

Varela first floated the idea of cutting diplomatic ties with Taiwan a year after he became leader of his party in 2006, with Panama announcing its decision this June to recognise “one China” and that Taiwan was part of the country.

Now that he has achieved his political aim, Varela will spend his week-long visit focusing on business, namely inking trade deals between the Central American country and China.

“When you see … ‘one China’ and it’s being led by President Xi Jinping, in a country of almost 1.4 billion people, that’s basically the market,” Panama’s new ambassador to Beijing, Francisco Carlo Escobar, said in an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post.

President Juan Carlos Varela dismissed the idea Panama was playing “chequebook politics”. Photo: EPA

Panama’s move was a major victory for Beijing, which has been luring away the dwindling number of countries that have formal relations with the island China claims as its own.

.css-sioo19{color:#c79a00;}Exclusive | When Panama’s leader opens Beijing embassy during official visit, it will be a ‘decade-long dream come true’

Exclusive | When Panama’s leader opens Beijing embassy during official visit, it will be a ‘decade-long dream come true’