Panama will not be threatened by China over canal court ruling, leader says

Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino on Thursday said he hoped an ongoing legal battle with a Hong Kong firm over operations of Panama Canal ports would “not escalate,” but that Panama's government would remain firm in its ruling against the company. “Panama is a dignified country and will not allow itself to be threatened by any country on earth,” Mulino said in his morning press briefing, responding to rebukes by the Chinese government. Mulino's comment comes a week after Panama's Supreme Court ruled that a concession held by a subsidiary of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings in the Panama Canal was unconstitutional.