BEIJING—Both the Chinese Foreign Ministry and the Chinese Embassy in Panama pushed back against remarks by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth regarding the Panama Canal, urging the U.S. to stop “spreading disinformation, stirring up trouble, and falsely linking China to the canal” as a pretext for advancing its own ambitions to control it.
During a visit to the Central American nation, Hegseth said that “the U.S. will take back the Panama Canal from Chinese influence,” Reuters reported. The U.S. military chief’s accusations came as the Trump administration escalated its trade war against China and the whole world, threatening a wider economic disaster for the global economy.
China-based companies continue to control critical infrastructure in the canal area, Hegseth alleged. “That gives China the potential to conduct surveillance activities across Panama. This makes Panama and the U.S. less secure, less prosperous, and less sovereign.”
Hegseth, following talks with Panama’s government, vowed to deepen security cooperation with Panama’s armed forces and said China would not be allowed to “weaponize” the canal by using Chinese firms’ commercial relationships for espionage.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian firmly rejected those remarks on Wednesday, stating that the U.S. official’s “malicious attack against China and attempt to smear and undermine China-Panama cooperation” once again revealed the “bullying and hegemonic nature of the U.S.”
Lin stressed that the world knows clearly who is actually seeking control over the Panama Canal. “The U.S. should take a hard look in the mirror and reflect on who is truly threatening the sovereignty, security, and development of other countries,” Lin said.
The spokesperson also urged the U.S. to stop spreading disinformation as a pretext to justify U.S.’ own intentions to seize control of the trade conduit. “I would also like to emphasize,” Lin added, “compromises and concessions cannot buy sovereignty and respect — they only embolden bullying.”
In his inaugural speech in January, President Donald Trump claimed without providing evidence that China controlled the 50-mile canal and vowed that the U.S. will take back the waterway, which he said was “vital” to national security.
The Chinese Embassy in Panama also made a statement on Wednesday in response to the latest remarks made by Hegseth, urging the U.S. to “seriously reflect on its history of bullying and exploitation” toward Latin America and the Caribbean, including Panama, and to stop distorting and smearing China.
“China has never participated in the management or operation of the Panama Canal, nor has it ever interfered in canal-related affairs,” said the statement.
China has always respected Panama’s sovereignty over the canal and acknowledges that the canal is a permanently neutral international waterway. This position is clearly stated in official documents exchanged during the mutual visits of the two countries’ heads of state, the embassy said.
“While the U.S. repeatedly accuses China of interfering with the canal, history tells a different story: The only time the canal was ever interrupted was due to a U.S. invasion,” the Chinese Embassy said.
It is clear who is truly upholding the canal’s neutrality and prosperity, and who has been clamoring to “take back” the canal. “Justice lies in the hearts of the people,” the embassy noted.
In November 2017, China and Panama signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Belt and Road cooperation. Thanks to this agreement, the two countries have enjoyed stronger policy support, increased investment, and broader public support, accelerating cooperation in trade and investment, infrastructure, finance, and development aid. These efforts have yielded tangible benefits for Panama and its people.
The U.S. has ignored facts and hyped up the so-called “China threat,” attempting to undermine China-Panama cooperation purely for its own geopolitical purposes – an act that fully exposes its hegemonic mindset. “The world can clearly see who is engaging in coercion and exploitation,” according to the embassy.
The embassy pointed out that the U.S.-Panama relations should not be exclusive. Panama’s decision to develop relations with China is a sovereign choice, and one that reflects the will of the Panamanian people. The U.S. has no right to interfere, it said.
Panama President José Raúl Mulino has denied that China has any influence in the operations of the canal. Mulino was also quoted as saying the canal has been handled responsibly for world trade, including that of the U.S., and that “it is, and will continue to be, Panamanian.”
Hegseth’s remarks make it clear that the U.S. “does not regard Panama as a sovereign country worthy of respect, but rather as a pawn in its geopolitical game,” Li Haidon, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University told Xinhua News Agency Wednesday. Li said U.S. policy toward Panama “reflects a blatant disregard for Panama’s sovereignty and a brazen interference in its internal affairs,” with the aim of drawing Panama into Washington’s pre-set strategy of strategic competition with China.
“By attempting to drag Panama, and potentially other countries, into a great-power rivalry, the U.S. risks creating further instability in the international order and deepening frictions and divisions between itself and other nations,” Li said, noting that this tactic of coercion and manipulation, using its own choices and strength to impose its will on others, is bound to backfire.
Xinhua
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