This content was originally published by Radio Free Asia, and it is now being reprinted with permission.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a attend to the main British country that China’s power of the Panama Canal ports is an intolerable threat to U.S. security, underlining U.S. efforts to boost its influence in the Northern hemisphere.
Due to China’s presence in its ports raising questions about control and impact in a crucial global trade route, the Panama Canal has become a focal point of political conflict.
Donald Trump, the president of the United States, has argued constantly that China has control over its activities and that the country is being overcharged to use the Panama Canal.
Hegseth said the U.S. does not help China or any other country to intimidate the canal’s operations at the ribbon-cutting for a new U.S. supported port at the Vasco Nuez de Balboa Naval Base following a conference with Panama’s President José Raul Mulino.
In order to achieve this, the United States and Panama have made more of their defense and security cooperation in recent weeks than they have in decades.
Hegseth claimed that China-based businesses still have control over crucial infrastructure in the canal region.
” That opens the door for China to conduct surveillance operations throughout Panama.” This results in less security, prosperity, and sovereignty for Panama and the United States. And that’s unacceptable, as President Donald Trump has remarked.
The Chinese embassy in Panama criticized the U.S. government in a statement on X in response to Hegseth’s remarks.
According to the statement, the United States has used “blackmail” to advance its own interests, and that who Panama conducts business with is a” sovereign decision of Panama… and something in which the United States doesn’t have the right to irrationally interfere.”
The US has launched a sensationalistic campaign about the” the theoretical Chinese threat” in an effort to sabotage Chinese-Panamanian cooperation, which is all just rooted in the country’s own geopolitical interests, according to the embassy.
Washington is increasingly pressing for action to end Beijing’s influence due to Chinese and Hong Kong companies ‘ control of ports in Panama and other Western countries.
China and the United States are also engaged in a tit-for-trade dispute that threatens to stymie the global economy. Following a number of tariff increases this year, the U.S. now imposes a 104 % tariff on Chinese imports.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened the Panamanian leader with potential American retaliation on February 3 if his nation didn’t immediately reduce China’s influence over the canal.
Late on Monday, the Panamanian government discovered irregularities by auditing the lease held by the Hong Kong consortium, which runs ports at both ends of the canal.
However, the Hong Kong consortium had already made the announcement that BlackRock Inc. and CK Hutchison Holdings would be selling their controlling stake in the ports, effectively transferring the ports ‘ ownership to the consortium.
Since the late 1990s, Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings has run the Balboa and Cristóbal ports on the Pacific and Atlantic sides of the Panama Canal through its subsidiary Panama Ports Company.
As part of a US$ 22.8 billion deal that includes control over 43 ports in 23 nations, CK Hutchison agreed to sell a 90 % stake in Panama Ports Company to a consortium led by U.S. investment firm BlackRock Inc.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee at the time said worries about the deal “deserve serious attention,” possibly implying legal action.
We oppose coercion or other abusive behavior in international, domestic, and business relations, Lee told reporters in Hong Kong. According to him, the Chinese government would conduct any business “according to the law.”
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government appeals to foreign governments to give businesses, including those from Hong Kong, a fair and just environment, Lee said.
