China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Photo: Japan Forward.
The Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China said that Latin Americans seek independence and do not want doctrines of domination imposed by the US.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi asserted that Latin America is “not anyone’s backyard,” alluding to statements made by Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, who during his visit to Panama accused the Asian country of influencing the Panama Canal to exert control of “our backyard.”
According to a statement released by China’s Embassy in Brazil and cited in a note published on the RT news agency’s website, the Chinese foreign minister clarified that “what Latin Americans want is to build their own home, not to be someone else’s backyard. What they seek is independence, not doctrines of domination.”
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth stated in an interview with Fox News that the Trump administration had tasked him with regaining control of his “backyard,” following China’s apparent influence in South and Central American countries.
The US official issued this statement amid a tariff war launched by Trump against more than 180 trading partners, directly targeting China with tariffs reaching as high as 145% at one point.
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From April 7 to 9, Hegseth traveled to Panama to sign a defense agreement with Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino, although the Panamanian president insists that “there are no military bases” and “not one inch of the country is being given up.”
Meanwhile, Hegseth commented that the US had secured “the first free passage of their ships, military vessels, and auxiliary vessels through the Panama Canal, and we also signed a memorandum.”
Finally, the head of the Pentagon, headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, detailed that the old US military base Fort Sherman, located on the western shore of the Panama Canal, will be reactivated “jointly with the Panamanians,” while stating that the US will have a greater presence in the Panama Canal, at the invitation of the Mulino government, whom he described as “pro-Trump” and “pro-US,” working “to keep the communist Chinese out.”
(Últimas Noticias) by Olys Guárate
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/KW/SL
