China backs Panama's sovereignty over canal issue amid threats by Trump

China on Monday extended support to Panama over the canal issue amid threats by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, state media reported.

The Panama Canal "is a great creation of the Panamanian people, and China has always supported their just struggle to maintain sovereignty over the canal," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing.

"China will continue to respect Panama's sovereignty over the canal and recognizes it as a permanently neutral international passageway," Mao said.

On Saturday, Trump accused Panama of charging "exorbitant prices" to American ships and demanded the Central American country to reduce the fees or return the canal to U.S. control.

Trump said the canal was "not given for Panama to charge the United States, its navy or corporations doing business within our country exorbitant prices and rates of passage. Our navy and commerce have been treated in a very unfair and injudicious way."

"The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama by the U.S. This complete 'rip-off' of our country will immediately stop."

Trump also alleged that China is involved in the canal's management.

However, Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino dismissed the threat from Trump and said Sunday that the canal belongs to Panama.

"As president, I want to express precisely that every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent zone belongs to Panama and will remain so. The sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable."

"The canal is not under direct or indirect control, neither by China nor by the European community, by the United States or by any other power," Mulino said, without explicitly mentioning Trump. "As a Panamanian, I strongly reject any statement that distorts this reality."