There was talk that China would build a high-speed railway in Panama. Panama City’s new subway line. modern container port.
China has long sought to build relationships and influence in Panama, part of broader ambitions to expand its influence in Latin America. This effort has had some successes, but also many setbacks.
China scored a major victory in 2017 when Panama severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan, an autonomous island claimed by China, and recognized Beijing in its place. Panama was one of the few countries in the world to recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state.
The following year, Panama joined the Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s signature global infrastructure plan aimed at expanding China’s geopolitical influence and countering American influence. It became the first Latin American country to sign.
promise
Ambitious promises followed. China has proposed building a 250-mile high-speed rail line from the capital, Panama City, to the western border with Costa Rica. Offered to help build a new subway line in Panama City. A consortium of Chinese companies led by conglomerate Landbridge has begun developing a container port that promises to be Panama’s most modern port.
A Chinese state-owned company also won a $1.4 billion contract to build a fourth bridge across the Panama Canal. Ultimately, the two countries announced they would negotiate a free trade agreement.
The Chinese government has made it clear that it wants to solidify its support in Panama City. In early 2018, a visiting Chinese official told then-President Juan Carlos Varela that “establishing diplomatic relations with Panama was China’s most important diplomatic achievement in 2017.” According to Panamanian government news release. Later that year, Xi became the first Chinese leader to visit China.
China has also stepped up its soft power efforts, opened a Confucius Institute to promote Chinese culture and language, and donated medical supplies during the coronavirus pandemic.
setback
However, as China’s influence has grown, so has the Panamanian people’s sense of alarm, and the pressure from the United States on Panama to distance itself from China has increased. After Barrera stepped down, his successor, Laurentino Cortizo, canceled the proposed rail project. Trade negotiations have stalled.
panama government canceled Landbridge’s rights to the 2021 container port project have been revoked after an audit found that Landbridge breached contract terms, invested less money than promised and hired fewer local workers. Ta.
Still, China has also had some successes. Panama’s new president, José Raul Mulino, revives the idea of a railway, and Chinese diplomats and businesses It became clear They want to participate. The construction is We have resumed After a brief stop on the fourth bridge over the Panama Canal.
In 2021, Hong Kong company CK Hutchinson won a 25-year extension of its control over the two ports at the canal entrance.
CK Hutchison is a publicly traded conglomerate whose largest owners are a family of Hong Kong billionaires. It is not a Chinese state-owned company. But the Chinese government has tightened its control over Hong Kong in recent years, and has the power to force private companies to comply with demands in the name of national security.
Panama has received special attention from China because of the canal and past ties with Taiwan, but China is also working to expand its influence more broadly in Latin America. The United States is positioning itself as an alternative to the United States in world leadership and as a fellow developing country that is more attuned to the needs of such countries.
The Chinese government has also invested heavily in Peru, opening a new Chinese-owned port in a city 60 miles north of Lima in November. China is from South America Major trading partners It is the second largest country in Latin America after the United States.
Future developments
In response to President-elect Donald J. Trump’s accusations, Chinese officials have no interest in violating Panama’s sovereignty or perverting it to their own interests vis-à-vis the U.S. government. denied. they have said China will always respect the canal as a forever neutral international waterway.
Chinese academics have denounced U.S. concerns about Beijing’s growing presence in Latin America as a smear campaign.
Zhou Bo, a retired colonel in the People’s Liberation Army and currently a senior fellow at the Center for International Security Strategy at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said Trump’s recent comments about the presence of Chinese troops in Panama were extremely ridiculous. . The Chinese government said it was “not worthy of a concrete response.”
“China is making a lot of investments all over the world. They are not limited by region or whether it is perhaps ‘America’s backyard,'” he said.
Cui Shoujun, director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Renmin University in Beijing, expressed confidence that relations between China and Panama will continue to grow despite the United States’ efforts to sabotage it.
He added that Trump could even move Panama closer to China. “We have a very domineering American president and a pragmatic Chinese partner,” he said. When faced with the choice, he said, “The answer is obvious.”
