Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said Wednesday that the recent comments by Panama's media have sharply exposed the true nature of U.S. hegemony, pointing to its ambitions to control the Panama Canal.
Guo commented at a press conference when a reporter brought up Panama's media criticism of the U.S. interference and hegemonic actions in Central America, hyping a fabricated "China threat" in the country to control the Canal. The Panamanian media also slammed the U.S. plan to build a long-term military presence, which could further hurt Panama's interests.
"The comments made by Panama's media have accurately exposed the essence of U.S. hegemonic behavior. The U.S. has fabricated the lie of 'China controlling the Panama Canal' and maliciously attacked China, which is merely an excuse to justify its control over the Canal and push forward its expansionist and 'Monroe Doctrine'-style hegemonic agenda. The international community and the people of Panama see this very clearly. Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino also rejected the false claim of Chinese interference because this is not based on facts," Guo said.
"No lie can conceal the United States' ambitions to control the Panama Canal. We again urge the U.S. to stop manipulating China-related issues, cease its attacks and smear campaigns against China, and halt its interference with normal exchanges and cooperation between China and Latin American countries, including Panama. The U.S. should focus on actions that truly benefit regional and global development and prosperity," said the spokesman.
No lie can conceal US ambition over Panama Canal: spokesman
Attempts to curb China's scientific and technological advancement are futile, a fact that has already been proven, said Kishore Mahbubani, former permanent representative of Singapore to the United Nations, in an interview aired Friday.
In an exclusive interview with China Central Television (CCTV) in Beijing, Mahbubani said he had stated this position in one of his articles published in the United States.
"Actually, I published an article, you know the two, I guess two leading journals in the United States on international relations. One is Foreign Affairs and the other is Foreign Policy. And last year I co-authored an article with two other co-authors, saying that all the efforts to stop China's scientific and technological development will fail. And it has failed always. You know, for example, the Soviet Union tried to prevent the spread of nuclear technology to China, China develops its own. The United States didn't want to share its technology on international space station with China. China develops its own space station. So clearly, efforts to stop China in the area of scientific innovation and technological development have failed. And so it'd be wiser for the West, including United States, to work with China other than to try and stop China seek development," he said.
Regarding China's progress on robots, Mahbubani said China is leading the world in the sector and hopes the country will share its expertise with the rest of the world.
"If there's one country that is preparing for the future well, it is China, because one in six human beings in the world is Chinese. But one in three robots in the world is Chinese, and one in two baby robots being born every day is Chinese. So China is producing far more robots than any other country is. So clearly it's preparing for the world of the future when we will have, for example, labor shortages, as you know, as you develop an aging society. So China is wisely investing in robots. But I hope that China will also share its learning and expertise with other countries. Also because the robots like that can also be helpful even to developing countries cause you can enhance the productivity of their populations, of their factories and so on so forth. So the world should be happy that China is leading the world in manufacturing, producing robots," he said.
Attempts to stop China's sci-tech development doomed to fail: former Singaporean diplomat
