Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pledged that the Trump administration would “take back” the Panama Canal from “China’s influence” on Tuesday during a visit to the key shipping lane.
“China did not build this canal. China does not operate this canal and China will not weaponize this canal,” the Pentagon chief said in remarks from Panama, with the strategic waterway as his backdrop.
“Together with Panama in the lead, we will keep the canal secure and available for all nations.”
“Together, we will take back the canal from China’s influence,” Hegseth added.
President Trump has sought to reclaim the canal from Panama, citing national security concerns over Chinese-owned companies being allowed to operate port facilities on both the entry and exit points of the waterway, as well as much of the infrastructure that surrounds it.
More than 40% of US container traffic, valued at roughly $270 billion, flows through the Panama Canal annually, according to Reuters.
“In reality or in perception, the communist Chinese have had designs on more control of this canal, and to that we say: ‘Not on our watch,” Hegseth told Panamanian security forces and US troops stationed in the Central American country. “We will grow our partnership even more.”
The Chinese Embassy in Panama released a fiery statement in response to Hegseth’s remarks.
“Who represents the real threat to the Canal? People will make their own judgment,” the embassy said in a statement.
The Chinese Embassy further accused the US of resorting to “blackmail” to advance its interests in the region and argued that the nations Panama conducts business with is a “sovereign decision of Panama … and something the US doesn’t have the right to interfere in.”
“The US 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 States’ own geopolitical interests,” the embassy added. “China has never been involved in the management and operation of the Panama Canal, nor has it ever interfered in the affairs of the canal.”
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino released a joint statement with Hegseth after the Cabinet secretary’s insistence that the leaders “reaffirmed the historic security relationship between the Republic of Panama and the United States of America.”
“They agreed our two nations must stand shoulder-to-shoulder in their mutual commitment to address shared security challenges,” the joint statement continued, recognizing the $230 million in security assistance the US has provided Panama over the last five years; Panama’s exit from the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative; and Panama’s efforts to crackdown on illegal immigration by closing the border along the Darien Gap.
The statement also noted that Panama and the US will work “on a mechanism to compensate for the payment of tolls and charge” for ships using the canal and collaborate to “enhance and strengthen Panama’s security capabilities,” including through joint military exercises in the Panamanian jungle.
With Post wires.
