US defense secretary says China is a threat to Panama Canal, spurring a
fiery response from Beijing
[April 09, 2025]
By JUAN ZAMORANO
PANAMA CITY (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday the
Panama Canal faces ongoing threats from China but that together the
United States and Panama will keep it secure.
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.”
Speaking at a ribbon cutting for a new U.S.-financed dock at the Vasco
Nuñez de Balboa Naval Base after a meeting with Panama President José
Raúl Mulino, Hegseth said the U.S. will not allow China or any other
country to threaten the canal's operation.
"To this end, the United States and Panama have done more in recent
weeks to strengthen our defense and security cooperation than we have in
decades," he said.
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 Tuesday morning before heading to
the naval base that previously had been the U.S. Rodman Naval Station.
On the way, Hegseth posted a photo on X of the two men laughing and said
it was an honor speaking with Mulino. “You and your country’s hard work
is making a difference. Increased security cooperation will make both
our nations safer, stronger and more prosperous,” he wrote.
Late Tuesday, Mulino and Hegseth released a joint statement.
A vaguely worded portion of the statement suggested the two had
discussed the tolls the United States pays for its ships crossing the
canal. It said that within the canal’s framework, “the Republic of
Panama and the United States of America will work, as established, on a
mechanism to compensate for the payment of tolls and charges.”
Panama's Foreign Relations Ministry did not immediately answer a request
for clarification.
But the Spanish and English versions had at least one significant
discrepancy. The Spanish version included that “Secretary Hegseth
recognized the leadership and inalienable sovereignty of Panama over the
Panama Canal and its adjacent areas.” That sentence appeared nowhere in
the English version.
The visit comes amid tensions over Trump’s repeated assertions that the
U.S. is being overcharged to use the Panama Canal and that China has
influence over its operations — allegations that Panama has denied.
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U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at Port of Rodman in West
Panama, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Shortly after the meeting, the Chinese Embassy in Panama slammed the
American government in a statement on X, saying the U.S. 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 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,” the embassy wrote.
After Hegseth and Mulino spoke by phone in February, the U.S. State
Department said that an agreement had been reached to not charge
U.S. warships to pass through the canal. Mulino publicly denied
there was any such deal.
Trump has gone so far as to suggest the U.S. never should have
turned the canal over to Panama and that maybe that it should take
the canal back.
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 lease was being audited and late Monday
concluded that there were irregularities.
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., effectively putting the ports
under American control once the sale is complete.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Mulino during a visit in
February that Trump believes China’s presence in the canal area may
violate a treaty that led the U.S. to turn the waterway over to
Panama in 1999. That treaty calls for the permanent neutrality of
the American-built canal.
Mulino has denied that China has any influence in the operations of
the canal. In February, he expressed frustration at the persistence
of the narrative. “We aren’t going to speak about what is not
reality, but rather those issues that interest both countries,” he
said.
The U.S. built the canal in the early 1900s as it looked for ways to
facilitate the transit of commercial and military vessels between
its coasts. Washington relinquished control of the waterway to
Panama on Dec. 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by President
Jimmy Carter.
“I want to be very clear, China did not build this canal,” Hegseth
said 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.”
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