‘US to take back Panama Canal’

WHAT US DEFENCE SECRETARY HEGSETH SAID |  ‘US will not allow China to  ‘weaponize’ the Canal by using Hong Kong  firms’ commercial relationships for espionage’

Agencies PANAMA CITY

The United States will "take back" the Panama Canal from Chinese influence, US  Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday during a visit to the Central American nation. Speaking at a ribbon cutting for a new US-financed dock at the Vasco Nuñez de Balboa Naval Base after a meeting with Panama president, José Raúl Mulino, Hegseth said the US will not allow China to "weaponize" the Canal by using Chinese firms' commercial relationships for espionage.

"Together, we will take back the Panama Canal from China's influence," The Guardian quoted Hegseth as saying. "China did not build this canal. 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." Hegseth alluded to ports at either end of the canal that are controlled by a Hong Kong consortium, which is in the process of selling its controlling stake to another consortium, including BlackRock Inc.

“China-based companies continue to control critical infrastructure in the canal area,” Hegseth said. “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.”

Hegseth met with Mulino for two hours on Tuesday morning before heading to the naval base that previously had been the US Rodman naval station. Hegseth’s remarks triggered a fiery response from the Chinese government, which said: “Who represents the real threat to the Canal? People will make their own judgement.”

An AFP report said shortly after the meeting, the Chinese embassy in Panama slammed the US government in a statement on X, saying the US has used “blackmail” to further its own interests and that who Panama carries out business with is a “sovereign decision of Panama … and something the U.S. 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 State’s own geopolitical interests,” the embassy wrote.

The China concern was provoked by the Hong Kong consortium holding a 25-year lease on ports at either end of the canal. The Panamanian government announced that the lease was being audited and late on Monday, concluded that there were irregularities. More than 40% of  US container traffic, valued at roughly $270 billion a year, goes through the Panama Canal, accounting for more than two-thirds of vessels passing each day through the world's second-busiest interoceanic waterway.

The Hong Kong consortium, however, has already announced that CK Hutchison would be selling its controlling stake in the ports to a consortium including BlackRock Inc, in effect putting the ports under US control once the sale is complete. Still, current and former U.S. officials and experts say the United States has found a willing partner in tackling Chinese influence in Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino, whom Hegseth met earlier on Tuesday.