U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that the Panama Canal is the target of continued threats from China.
At the same time, the Pentagon leader said: “The United States and Panama have done more in recent weeks to strengthen our defense and security cooperation than we have in decades”.
“China-based companies continue to control critical infrastructure in the canal area,” Hegseth added, “That gives China the potential to conduct surveillance activities across Panama. This makes Panama and the United States less secure, less prosperous and less sovereign. And as President Donald Trump has pointed out, that situation is not acceptable.”
The Defense Secretary, in particular, focused on the ports at both ends of the canal, which are controlled by a Hong Kong consortium that is selling its stake to another consortium, which also includes BlackRock Inc. On Tuesday, Hegseth met with President José Raúl Mulino, explaining, “You and your country’s hard work is making a difference. Increased security cooperation will make both our nations safer, stronger and more prosperous”.
The Pentagon leader’s visit comes at a time of tension between the two countries, due in large part to Trump’s claims that the U.S. is overburdened by the cost of using the Canal, mainly due to Beijing’s influence there.
After the meeting between Hegseth and Mulino, the Chinese Embassy in Panama itself reported, “The U.S. has carried out a sensationalistic campaign about the ‘theoretical Chinese threat’ in an attempt to sabotage Chinese-Panamanian cooperation, which is all just rooted in the United State’s own geopolitical interests”. Officials also said that trade relations with Panama are something the U.S. has no right to interfere with.
For its part, as reiterated repeatedly, the U.S. fears that the Chinese presence may violate the treaty by which the U.S. government entrusted Panama with the management of the canal in 1999 in exchange for the neutrality of the waterway, one of the focal points of world trade. However, Mulino has always denied the possibility that Beijing could influence the canal’s operations.
“I want to be very clear, China did not build this canal,” Hegseth finally reiterated Tuesday. “China does not operate this canal and China will not weaponize this canal. Together with Panama in the lead, we will keep the canal secure and available for all nations through the deterrent power of the strongest, most effective and most lethal fighting force in the world.”
