{"id":215813,"date":"2025-01-15T13:13:07","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T13:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/15\/what-china-wants-in-panama-more-trade-projects-and-influence\/"},"modified":"2025-01-15T13:13:08","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T13:13:08","slug":"what-china-wants-in-panama-more-trade-projects-and-influence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/15\/what-china-wants-in-panama-more-trade-projects-and-influence\/","title":{"rendered":"What China Wants in Panama: More Trade, Projects and Influence"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/15\/multimedia\/15china-panama-explained-zkhc\/15china-panama-explained-zkhc-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"What China Wants in Panama: More Trade, Projects and Influence\" title=\"What China Wants in Panama: More Trade, Projects and Influence\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There was talk of a high-speed rail line that China would build in Panama. A new subway line in Panama City. A modern container port.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">China has been working to build ties and influence in Panama for years, part of its broader ambition to expand its footprint in Latin America. The effort has had some successes, but also plenty of setbacks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 2017, China scored a major victory when Panama cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims as its territory, and recognized Beijing instead. Panama had been one of the few countries worldwide to recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The following year, Panama became the first Latin American country to sign onto the Belt and Road Initiative, the Chinese leader Xi Jinping\u2019s signature global infrastructure program, which is aimed at enlarging China\u2019s geopolitical heft and countering American influence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-5221c928\">Promises<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A flurry of ambitious promises followed. China proposed to build a 250-mile high-speed rail line from Panama City, the capital, toward the western border with Costa Rica. It offered to help build a new subway line in Panama City. A consortium of Chinese companies, led by the conglomerate Landbridge, began developing a container port that was promised to be Panama\u2019s most modern one.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A Chinese state-owned company also won a $1.4 billion contract to build a fourth bridge over the Panama Canal. Eventually, the two countries said they would negotiate a free-trade agreement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Beijing made clear that it wanted to solidify its support in Panama City. In early 2018, a visiting Chinese official told then-President Juan Carlos Varela that \u201cthe establishment of diplomatic relations with Panama was the most important diplomatic achievement for China during 2017,\u201d <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/mire.gob.pa\/china-califica-el-establecimiento-de-relaciones-con-panama-como-el-logro-diplomatico-mas-importante-para-el-2017\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">according to<\/a> a Panamanian government news release. Later that year, Mr. Xi became the first Chinese leader to visit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">China also stepped up its soft-power efforts, opening a Confucius Institute to promote Chinese culture and language, and donating health care supplies during the Covid pandemic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-55a5dee3\">Setbacks<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But as China\u2019s influence grew, so did wariness among Panamanians, as well as pressure from the United States for Panama to distance itself from Beijing. After Mr. Varela left office, his successor, Laurentino Cortizo, suspended the proposed railway project. The trade negotiations have stalled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Panamanian government <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2022\/02\/chinas-investment-setbacks-in-panama\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">revoked<\/a> Landbridge\u2019s rights to the container port project in 2021, after an audit found that the company had violated the terms of its contract, investing less money and employing less local labor than had been promised.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Still, China has also had some successes. The new Panamanian president, Jos\u00e9 Ra\u00fal Mulino, has revived the idea of the railway, and Chinese diplomats and companies have <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.laestrella.com.pa\/economia\/tren-panama-david-el-proyecto-que-emociona-a-las-empresas-chinas-NN9960438\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">made clear<\/a> that they want to participate. Construction has <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.chec.bj.cn\/pub\/chec_pc\/en\/Media\/PressReleases\/2024\/202403\/t20240321_9175.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">resumed<\/a> on the fourth bridge over the Panama Canal, after a pause.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 2021, the Hong Kong company CK Hutchinson won a 25-year extension of its control over two ports at the canal\u2019s entrances.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">CK Hutchison is a publicly listed conglomerate whose largest owner is a family of Hong Kong billionaires. It is not a Chinese state-owned company. But Beijing has tightened its control over Hong Kong in recent years, and it has the power to compel private companies to comply with its demands in the name of national security.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Panama has been the focus of special attention from China, because of the canal and its previous ties to Taiwan, but China has also been working to expand its influence in Latin America more broadly. It has positioned itself as an alternative to the United States in global leadership, casting itself as a fellow developing country more attuned to such nations\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Beijing has also invested heavily in Peru, where it opened a new Chinese-funded port in a city 40 miles north of Lima in November. China is South America\u2019s <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/backgrounder\/china-influence-latin-america-argentina-brazil-venezuela-security-energy-bri\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">top trading partner<\/a> and the second-biggest, after the United States, for Latin America as a whole.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-19ed3a52\">Going Forward<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In response to accusations from President-elect Donald J. Trump, Chinese officials have denied having any interest in infringing on Panama\u2019s sovereignty or bending it to its own interests against Washington. They have <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.globaltimes.cn\/page\/202412\/1325901.shtml\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a> that China would always respect the canal as a permanently neutral international waterway.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Chinese scholars have denounced American concerns about Beijing\u2019s growing presence in Latin America as smear campaigns.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Zhou Bo, a retired colonel in the People\u2019s Liberation Army of China who is now a senior fellow at the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said Mr. Trump\u2019s recent remarks about a Chinese military presence in Panama were so absurd as to \u201cnot deserve a specific reply\u201d from Beijing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cChina has many investments around the world. They\u2019re not limited by region, or whether it\u2019s supposedly \u2018America\u2019s backyard,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Cui Shoujun, director of the Research Center for Latin American Studies at Renmin University in Beijing, expressed confidence that China\u2019s relations with Panama would keep growing, despite American efforts to stymie them. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump might even push Panama closer to Beijing, he added. \u201cYou have an extremely domineering American president, and a pragmatic Chinese partner,\u201d he said. Faced with that choice, he said, \u201cthe answer is self-evident.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/15\/world\/asia\/china-panama-explained.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There was talk of a high-speed rail line that China would build in Panama. A new subway line in Panama City. A modern container port. China has been working to build ties and influence in Panama for years, part of its broader ambition to expand its footprint in Latin America. The effort has had some [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/15\/multimedia\/15china-panama-explained-zkhc\/15china-panama-explained-zkhc-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[165602,168,170268,83611,14601,9199,170267,3096,164053,165911,165600,165910,11920,170270,165331,137131,8471,14195,170269,2762],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215813"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215813"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":215815,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215813\/revisions\/215815"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}