China fires back after Hegseth calls country 'threat to Panama canal'
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US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth warned that China poses a security threat to US over its significant influence of the Panama Canal, but assured US-Panama cooperation to safeguard it. China quickly responded, accusing the US of interfering with Panama's sovereignty.
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US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks at Port of Rodman in West Panama, on Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP)
The Chinese embassy in Panama has fired back at the US government in a Tuesday statement on X, saying, “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 States' own geopolitical interests."
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stated on Tuesday that the Panama Canal continues to face threats from China, but assured that the US and Panama will work together to protect it.
The Chinese embassy asserted that the US is blackmailing to further its own interests, and that who Panama carries out business with is a “sovereign decision of Panama … something the U.S. doesn’t have the right to interfere in”
“Who represents the real threat to the Canal? People will make their own judgement.”, the Chinese embassy said.
Hegseth fearmongering
Speaking at a ribbon cutting for a new US-financed dock at the Vasco Nuñez de Balboa Naval Base after a meeting with Panama's President, José Raúl Mulino, Hegseth said the US will not allow China or any other country to threaten the canal’s operation.
“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 housed the US Rodman naval station.
China did not build this canal.
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) April 8, 2025
China does not operate this canal.
and China will not weaponize this canal.
Together, we will take back the canal from China’s influence. pic.twitter.com/CiFCOJJFw6
The Chinese embassy in Panama quickly shot back with a statement saying the country has "never participated in the management nor operation of the Panama Canal." It called allegations by the Trump administration that China controls the canal "pure lies," accusing the US government of trying to “sabotage” relations between China and Panama, but said its efforts will fail.
The Chinese Embassy had responded to similar allegations last February when US Adm. Alvin Holsey visited Panama to discuss, “efforts to protect the canal area from Chinese Communist Party influence & control.”
At the time, China quickly shot back with a statement saying the country has “never participated in the management nor operation of the Panama Canal.” It called allegations by the Trump administration that China controls the canal “pure lies.” It accused the U.S. government of trying to “sabotage” relations between China and Panama, but said its efforts will fail, according to a source from the Associated Press (AP).
Hegseth's visit comes amid tensions over Donald Trump’s repeated assertions that the US is being overcharged to use the Panama Canal and that China has influence over its operations – allegations that Panama has denied. After Hegseth and Mulino spoke by phone in February, the US State Department said that an agreement had been reached to not charge US warships to pass through the canal. Mulino publicly denied there was any such deal.
