bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

paywallTypes

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Zhao Ziwen

Panama and China have hit back at American claims about Beijing’s influence over the Panama Canal, saying they were “lies”.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wants the US to regain control of the canal and this week US Southern Command head Alvin Holsey visited the Central American nation to step up the pressure.
The visit drew the ire of Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino, who told a press conference on Thursday that he had told his cabinet members not to discuss Washington’s allegations.
He said he did not want to “discuss lies” or “increase the morbidity created around the Chinese issue in Panama and the Communist Party’s control of the canal”.
“Those are the questions [Holsey] should be answering and where [the United States] is getting such information,” said Mulino.
The US commander did not meet the president but he is expected to meet Panama’s Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha Vásquez and Security Minister Frank Ábrego to discuss “the safety and security of the canal area”, according to the Pentagon.
On Thursday Holsey met the canal’s administrator Ricaurte Vásquez, and the Pentagon said Panamanian officials had noted Washington’s concerns about “Chinese Communist Party influence and control [of the canal]” and its interest in expanding “areas of cooperation and mutual interest”.
On Thursday the Chinese embassy to Panama said US claims about “China’s control of the canal” were “pure lies”.


“It is precisely the United States that is constantly threatening to ‘take back’ the canal in an attempt to regain control of it. The behaviour of the United States in undermining China-Panama relations is unpopular and will not succeed,” the embassy said.
Niu Qingbao, the Chinese ambassador to Chile, also weighed in on the dispute, in an article for a local media platform denying the claims.
“The United States politicians have repeatedly fabricated the lie of so-called ‘Chinese control of the Panama Canal’ in an attempt to create panic and discredit China.
“Chinese companies investing in the canal’s neighbourhood follow market rules and conduct commercial operations in accordance with the law, without interfering in the management of the canal, let alone ‘controlling’ it,” Niu wrote.
The Panama Canal has been central to Trump’s agenda in his second term, igniting controversy during his inauguration speech when he claimed China controlled it.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Panama earlier this month to warn that Washington would not permit “the Communist Party to continue its effective and growing control over the Panama Canal area”.
Shortly after Rubio’s visit, Panama decided to withdraw from China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a transcontinental infrastructure scheme.
The canal was built and funded by the US in the early 20th century after Panama gained independence from Colombia with Washington’s support. It retained control of the canal zone until it handed it back to Panama on New Year’s Eve 1999.


Since then China has been expanding its presence along the waterway, and between October 2023 and September 2024 it accounted for 21.4 per cent of the volume of cargo that passed through the canal, according to the BBC.
Two key ports – at the Pacific and Atlantic ends of the canal – are operated by the Hong Kong-based firm Hutchison Ports, but no major Chinese state-owned enterprises are known to hold direct equity in these sites.


Tariffs are no way to repay Chinese help with US fentanyl crisis

As US tariffs bite, China helps its exporters pivot to a new market – China

Hong Kong stocks hit 3-year high on hopes Trump-Xi talks could ease trade tensions

‘Must comply with the law’: Hong Kong’s John Lee on Hutchison’s Panama port deal

US-China relations

Panama and China hit back at US ‘lies’ about Beijing’s influence over canal

Donald Trump has complained about Chinese “control” over the canal. Photo: Zuma Press Wire/ TNS

US military commander meets Panama Canal administrator to discuss countering China

Panama Canal administrator Ricaurte Vasquez (R) talking with the head of the US Southern Command, US Admiral Alvin Holsey, during a tour of the canal’s facilities at the Miraflores Locks near Panama City, on Thursday. Photo: Panama Canal Authority / AFP

Why Chinese leader Xi Jinping may want to accept Donald Trump’s invitation to visit US

Trump and Xi, pictured in Beijing in 2017, spoke by phone shortly before the US leader returned to the White House. Photo: AFP

News

China

Diplomacy

Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino has told his cabinet not to discuss ‘lies’ while Beijing hit back at Donald Trump’s takeover threats


Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino has told his cabinet not to discuss ‘lies’ while Beijing hit back at Donald Trump’s takeover threats.


Panama

Donald Trump

Donald Trump’s China policy