Secretary of State Marco Rubio successfully persuaded Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino to forgo renewing the country’s agreement with China on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)—a major geopolitical shift in Latin America’s relations with Beijing.

Mulino confirmed on Sunday that Panama would not extend its BRI agreement, following discussions with Rubio during his diplomatic visit to the country, according to Baha Breaking News.

Panama had originally made history in 2018 by becoming the first Latin American country to sign onto China’s Belt and Road Initiative, just a year after severing diplomatic ties with Taiwan and formally recognizing Beijing. This move marked a major foreign policy victory for China, as Taiwan had previously maintained diplomatic recognition in Panama as a sovereign state. The New York Times reported that the 2017 shift was a significant step in China’s strategic expansion in the Western Hemisphere, aimed at countering American influence.

During the meeting between Rubio and Mulino, discussions centered on Panama’s sovereignty, national security, and economic partnerships with the United States. According to Baha Breaking News, Rubio informed Mulino that President Donald Trump viewed China’s influence over the Panama Canal as a possible violation of the Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal. However, Mulino pushed back against concerns about Chinese control, emphasizing that “Panama’s control over the canal was non-negotiable.”

In addition, Mulino confirmed that an audit was underway regarding two Chinese-operated ports in Panama, suggesting that the findings could lead to further policy changes in the future. The Panamanian government’s stance signals a reassessment of its economic and diplomatic ties with China, despite previous engagement in infrastructure projects under the BRI framework.

Beyond the Belt and Road decision, the two leaders also reached an agreement to bolster regional security, curb illegal migration through the Darién Gap, and promote investment opportunities for U.S. businesses. These efforts align with Washington’s broader strategy to strengthen economic and diplomatic ties with Latin America amid growing global competition.

According to Reuters, Mulino confirmed that “a broad agreement between Panama and China to contribute to China’s silk road program” would not be renewed. He even suggested that Panama would consider terminating the agreement ahead of schedule, underscoring a more assertive stance toward reducing Chinese influence.

A statement from State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce further reinforced this position, revealing that Rubio had warned Mulino of the risks posed by China’s “position of influence and control” over the Panama Canal, which he deemed “a threat to the canal.”

The decision to distance Panama from the BRI has been met with praise from U.S. foreign policy experts. Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, took to X (formerly Twitter) to celebrate the move, declaring, “This is a huge win for America.” Others have noted that Rubio’s tenure as Secretary of State is already making a strong impact in reshaping global alignments.

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The Global Times, a Chinese state-run newspaper, expressed concern about the anticipated surge in democratic elections worldwide in 2024, labeling it a source of “uncertainty” and cautioning against the potential rise of “far-right politics” that could undermine the progress of “globalism.” As the leading English-language publication controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, it often criticizes free societies and elections, promoting the virtues of totalitarian communism.

The newspaper highlighted the scheduled elections in various democratic nations in 2024, including the U.S. presidential election and India’s parliamentary elections, emphasizing the recent trend of populist right-wing and conservative victories in Europe and Argentina. The rise of small-government, populist movements globally was considered a potential consequence.

Chinese experts cited several challenges and crises expected in 2024, such as regional conflicts, great power confrontations, protectionism concerns, and the unpredictability of election outcomes leading to policy uncertainties. The Global Times quoted an academic, Jin Canrong, suggesting that elections generally bring more uncertainty to the global landscape.

The article noted the success of far-right parties in various countries in 2023, including the Netherlands, Italy, Finland, Sweden, and Argentina, signaling a global trend. An expert, Professor Li Haidong, expressed concerns about the potential impact of far-right politics, anticipating a tightening of trade, foreign investment, immigration policies, and damage to globalization. The term “economic protectionism” was used to describe efforts to secure national supply chains, which, according to the Global Times, could harm the manufacturing-dependent Chinese economy.

The election of right-wing populist leaders in Italy, such as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and the rise of parties like the Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Netherlands and Javier Milei’s victory in Argentina were highlighted as alarming developments for China. Milei, an economics professor, won the presidency, rejecting China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and emphasizing a preference for partnerships with “civilized” nations over China.

China Daily, another state-owned outlet, suggested that Milei’s rejection of the BRICS coalition was not a definitive refusal, leaving the door open for Argentina to join when deemed appropriate.

The article concluded by quoting Li Haidong, who warned that a setback in economic globalization in 2024 could disrupt the interconnected world, leading to political and military consequences. The Global Times emphasized the potential significance of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, where former President Donald Trump, known for his tough stance on China, is a prominent contender, according to recent polls. The article suggested that the geopolitical games and disruptions to global industrial chains could have serious implications for the world economy.

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On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal released a report on the origins of the virus originating in Wuhan, China at the end of 2019 and being spread worldwide on a large scale in early 2021.

According to the report, United States intelligence found that three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China became sick with the Chinese virus symptoms in November 2019 and sought medical care.

Business Insider reports, “The Journal said the new details added to information from a State Department fact sheet issued in the last days of President Donald Trump’s administration. It added that officials familiar with the report did not agree on the strength of the evidence found.”

President Trump was asked by a reporter in April 2020, just one month into the heat of the pandemic, “Have you seen anything that gives you a high degree of confidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was the origin of this virus?”

President Trump responded, “Yes, yes I have. Yes, I have. And I think that the World Health Organization should be ashamed of themselves. Because they’re like the public relations agency for China. And this country pays them almost $500 million a year and China pays them $38 mill a year, and whether it’s a lot or more, it doesn’t matter. And still, they shouldn’t be making excuses when people make horrible mistakes, especially mistakes that are causing hundreds of thousands of people around the world to die. I think the World Health Organization should be ashamed of themselves.” 

WATCH: 

According to Business Insider, the World Health Organization “spent a month in Wuhan investigating the origin of the coronavirus and concluded that the virus most likely jumped from bats to people through an intermediary animal.” It said that a lab leak was “extremely unlikely.”

It appears President Trump was right about the Wuhan lab origins of the China virus.

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On Monday, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Gavin Clarkson released an op-ed in the Washington Examiner outlining a strategy for China to pay for the COVID-19 epidemic.

Clarkson cites a study that shows if China had acted just three weeks earlier, it could have reduced 95% of COVID-19 cases. But a new government report released Wednesday allegedly proves what many have suspected: China lied about how bad the virus was, and thus caused tens of thousands of casualties across the globe.

Clarkson’s plan to get China to pay for the Chinese virus begins with a recommendation to President Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to immediately extract reimbursement, starting with the $1.1 trillion in U.S. Treasury Department bonds Communist China currently holds.

The Washington Examiner piece contends that President Trump’s national emergency declaration on March 13, 2020, due to COVID-19 triggers additional powers, namely the ability to confiscate foreign assets under 50 USC § 1702(a)(1)(C). “Pursuant to that statute, seized assets can then be liquidated and the proceeds used to further the interests of the United States. Under my proposal, FSIA immunity is irrelevant,” writes Clarkson. 

Clarkson shows that such action has precedent, such as the United States’ actions with Iran, where the Supreme Court upheld Congress’s authority to prevent Iran from suing in Bank Markazi v. Peterson, 136 S. Ct. 1310 (2016). 

Under Clarkson’s plan, the U.S. Treasury should “electronically confiscate all U.S. Treasurys currently held by China and make it illegal for China to buy, hold, or sell U.S. Treasuries going forward.” Under the action, these prohibitions would apply to any subsidiary or agent of China’s Communist Party.

Because U.S. Treasury bonds are recorded electronically, “with just a few keystrokes” the bonds can be confiscated by the Depository Trust Corporation, as the paper notes can be marked no longer valid. 

Clarkson’s out-of-the-box idea shows how the United States can pay for essentially half of the $2.2 trillion COVID-19 relief bill passed last week through COngress, as well as reprimand China for their irresponsibility handling the coronavirus pandemic. 

Republican candidate Gavin Clarkson is running for New Mexico’s open U.S. Senate seat. Read more about Gavin here. 

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According to a newly released Bloomberg report, China concealed the extent of the Chinese Wuhan COVID-19 outbreak. The report cites anonymous U.S. officials speaking about a classified report showing the U.S. intelligence community concluding that China’s reporting was purposefully incomplete to hide fake numbers.

“Two of the officials said the report concludes that China’s numbers are fake,” Bloomberg reports. Also included in the report is the observation that “Stacks of thousands of urns outside funeral homes in Hubei province have driven public doubt in Beijing’s reporting.”

Other nations suspected to be forging their Coronavirus numbers include Iran, Russia, Indonesia and especially North Korea, which has not reported a single case of the disease, as probable under-counts. Others including Saudi Arabia and Egypt may also be playing down their numbers.

The report was received by the White House last week, according to one official.

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On Wednesday, it was reported that two U.S. Reps., Democrat Ben McAdams of Utah and Republican Mario Díaz-Balart of Florida tested positive for Chinese Wuhan Coronavirus. 

“On Saturday evening, Congressman Diaz-Balart developed symptoms including a fever and headache. Just a short while ago, he was notified that he has tested positive for COVID-19,” Díaz-Balart’s office said in a news release.

“We must continue to work together to emerge stronger as a country during these trying times,” said Díaz-Balart.

“Today I learned that I tested positive,” said McAdams in a statement released on Twitter. “I am still working for Utahns and pursuing efforts to get Utahns the resources they need as I continue doing my job from home until I know it is safe to end my self-quarantine.”

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On Monday, The Washington Times reported that the novel Coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is a U.S. “bioweapon and was brought to China by U.S. Army personnel.”

The Times reports, “Beijing, Moscow and Tehran are using a vast web of social media accounts, fake news outlets and state-controlled global satellite media to promote false claims by academics and, at times, government officials to blame Washington for the crisis now gripping most of humanity.”

According to the State Department’s U.S. Special Envoy Lea Gabrielle, the Chinese “engaged in an all-out aggressive campaign to try to reshape the global narrative around the coronavirus, essentially to the degree of trying to provide an alternate reality of what has actually happened since December.” 

The statement comes after the Chinese Foreign Minister Lijian Zhao spread a conspiracy theory alleging that the United States military could have brought the novel coronavirus to China — and it did not originate in the city of Wuhan, as experts believe.

However, experts refute the conspiracy theory, with teams of international scientists, including several from inside China, have agreed for more than a month that the virus came from a “wet market” in Wuhan — where fish, poultry and other animals are slaughtered on the premises — and that any other claims about the virus’ origins are propaganda.

Zhao’s tweet could have been in response to President Trump’s assertion that COVID-19 is caused by a “foreign virus” and “we all know where it came from.”

The State Department’s Global Engagement Center discovered a Russian government-backed effort to “seed the disinformation space with the notion that the virus was created by Americans.” The Kremlin-sponsored lies alleged that virus was created either by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation or in a U.S. government lab. The Iranians have also seized on the Russian conspiracy theory.

The U.S. State Department is responding with a robust effort to tackle the foreign fake news. The Department’s top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, David R. Stillwell said, “We are going to make a concerted and public effort to counter disinformation by any regime on this because there are lasting consequences. The Chinese and Russians and Iranians are putting out these conspiracy theories and false narratives. It is deeply irresponsible, not just for America, but for the world. We’re in the middle of a global pandemic that is unprecedented. The fact that these regimes are taking the time to deflect blame from their own actions is deeply irresponsible.”

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On Tuesday, the U.S. stock market took a nosedive as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) officials warned of the crippling implications coronavirus threatens to everyday life. 

The CDC’s director, Nancy Messonnier explained that two out of three requirements for a “pandemic of new disease” have been met, and people in the U.S. must prepare for the worst with the spread of coronavirus.

“It’s not a question of if this will happen but when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illnesses,” she said. “Disruption to everyday life might be severe.”

The news spooked markets, tanking the Dow Jones Industrial Average over 900 points, S&P 500 slid 2.6% while the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.4%. CNBC reports that Monday’s session was the market’s worst in two years.

On Monday, radio show host Rush Limbaugh warned of China possibly “weaponizing” the coronavirus as a biological warfare tactic to sink the markets. 

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On Monday, radio show host Rush Limbaugh made some interesting observations and potential theories about the coronavirus and how it may be used by communist China to take down Trump. 

Limbaugh said, “Folks, this coronavirus thing, I want to try to put this in perspective for you. It looks like the coronavirus is being weaponized as yet another element to bring down Donald Trump. Now, I want to tell you the truth about the coronavirus … The coronavirus is the common cold, folks.” 

He continued, explaining, “The survival rate of this is 98%! You have to read very deeply to find that number. Two percent of the people that get the coronavirus die. That’s less than the flu, folks. That is a far lower death statistic than any form of influenza, which is an annual thing that everybody gets shots for. There’s nothing unusual about the coronavirus. In fact, coronavirus is not something new. There are all kinds of viruses that have that name,” the radio host continued.”

Limbaugh concluded, “I’m telling you, the ChiComs are trying to weaponize this thing.” It is unclear if the communist Chinese government is using the virus for this purpose, however, there has been much secrecy as to what is actually going on in Wuhan, China where the virus originated.

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On Wednesday, President Trump signed the historic U.S. trade agreement with China, which will be a solid first step toward fairer trade between the two countries.

The deal, according to Chinese sources, is between $215 billion and $220 billion in traded goods.

According to Fox Business, “Beijing will purchase up to $50 billion of crops, according to President Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, $40 billion of which has been confirmed by Chinese sources. China has also agreed to buy $40 billion in services, $50 billion in energy and $75 billion to $80 billion worth of manufacturing, according to Chinese sources.”

“This is a great win for American business and American farmers,” said Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

President Trump was joined by China’s Vice Premier Liu He, reading a letter from Chinese President Xi Jinping, thanking the United States for the deal. In the letter, the President wished the “fair” deal to “optimize positive impact.”

Amid the signing of the U.S./China deal, The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 160 points higher, or 0.6% to reach an all-time high. The S&P 500 gained 0.4% and also hit a record, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.5%.

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