Mike Pompeo warns Panama and other nations about accepting China’s ‘belt and road’ loans
- The United States’ own overseas investment agency is actively competing with China to finance infrastructure projects in Panama
- ‘When China comes calling, it’s not always to the good of your citizens,’ the US secretary of state says
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has issued a warning to Panama and other nations in the region about the potential dangers of accepting Chinese investment, as Beijing expands its development projects to increasingly distant corners of the world.
“When China comes calling, it’s not always to the good of your citizens,” Pompeo said on Thursday, addressing reporters in Mexico City after a meeting with Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela.
The remarks came as Washington’s own overseas investment agency is actively competing with China to finance infrastructural development projects in Panama, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) president and CEO Ray Washburne confirmed.
The US welcomed “straight-up, legitimate investment that’s transparent and according to the rule of law,” said Pompeo, whose two-day visit to Latin America has included meetings with top officials in Panama and Mexico. “That’s called competition.”
The US objects “when state-owned enterprises show up in a way that is clearly not transparent, clearly not market-driven, and is designed not to benefit the people of Panama but rather to benefit the Chinese government”, he said.