Panama and China hit back at US 'lies' about Beijing's influence over canal
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 Jose Raul Mulino, who told a press conference on Thursday that he had told his cabinet members not to discuss Washington's allegations.
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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 Martinez-Acha Vasquez and Security Minister Frank Abrego to discuss "the safety and security of the canal area", according to the Pentagon.
On Thursday Holsey met the canal's administrator Ricaurte Vasquez, 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.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2025 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 2025. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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