Why Panama’s belt and road exit is just the start of Trump’s ‘weak link’ plan for China

Name: China opposed to US ‘sabotaging’ Belt and Road in Panama
Uploaded: 2025-02-07T14:00:08.000Z
Duration: 56 s
Description: China opposed to US ‘sabotaging’ Belt and Road in Panama

Instead of direct confrontation, the US may target frameworks involving China, such as Brics, to preserve its global power, say analysts

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On February 2, protests in Panama City preceded US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit. Days later, President José Raúl Mulino said Panama was withdrawing from China’s belt and road programme. Photo: AP

Dewey Simin Beijing

Published: 10:00pm, 7 Feb 2025Updated: 1:33am, 8 Feb 2025

The United States may be targeting “weak links” in Chinese-backed initiatives or groupings to cut Beijing’s growing influence as part of an emerging strategy during President Donald Trump’s second term, according to observers.

They said that under this approach, the US might target countries that are part of the Belt and Road Initiative or other frameworks involving China, such as Brics, as Washington sought to safeguard its position as a global power and preserve the dominance of the US dollar.

Panama on Thursday confirmed its decision to withdraw from China’s massive infrastructure and investment project amid mounting pressure from Washington over its ties with Beijing. Analysts warned it might be just the beginning.

Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University in Beijing, said: “The US is desperately trying to counter China’s influence, and because it cannot comprehensively confront it, it is doing so by attacking … weaker links.”

He described these “weak links” as countries or regions “heavily controlled by Western, especially American, capital”.

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China opposed to US ‘sabotaging’ Belt and Road in Panama

According to Wang, Washington’s move to target such economies comes at a time of growing Chinese influence and as China has “broken the US monopoly on technology and capital”, citing the recent success of Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek.