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US, Latin America countries criticise China's retaliation over Panama Canal
Bolivia, Costa Rica, Guyana, Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States have released a joint statement in support of Panama, while criticising Chinese economic retaliation, after a Hong Kong-based conglomerate lost a legal dispute over the management of ports on the Panama Canal.Panama’s Supreme Court in late January annulled contracts that had allowed a subsidiary of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison to administer the Balboa and Cristobal port terminals on the Panama Canal after deeming the decades-old agreements unconstitutional.In their joint statement on Tuesday, the six countries claimed that following the court ruling, China has retaliated against Panama with “targeted economic pressure” on Panamanian-flagged ships.China detained nearly 70 Panamanian-flagged ships in March, according to the US Federal Maritime Commission, a number “far exceeding historical norms”.“These actions – following the decision of Panama’s independent Supreme Court regarding the Balboa and Cristobal terminals – are a blatant attempt to politicise maritime trade and infringe on the sovereignty of the nations of our hemisphere,” the signatories said.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said separately on X that Washington was “deeply concerned” by China’s economic pressure on Panama.“We stand in solidarity with Panama. Any attempts to undermine Panama’s sovereignty are a threat to us all,” he said.China has previously accused the US of “bullying” and trying to smear its reputation in Latin America, while it described the Panamanian Supreme Court ruling as “absurd” and “shameful”.US Federal Maritime Commission head Laura DiBella said last month that Beijing’s detention of Panamanian ships had repercussions for both Panama and the US.“These intensified inspections were carried out under informal directives and appear intended to punish Panama after the transfer of Hutchison’s port assets,” DiBella said.“Given that Panama‑flagged ships carry a meaningful share of US containerised trade, these actions could result in significant commercial and strategic consequences to US shipping,” she said.‘States know how vulnerable shipping is’Panama’s decision to invalidate the contracts held by CK Hutchison’s subsidiary Panama Ports Company was made at a time of heightened media attention around the Panama Canal amid threats by US President Donald Trump to seize the strategic waterway.Trump had made the approximately 80km (49-mile) waterway a focus of his second administration, alleging in his...
Trump Scores Panama Canal Victory as China's Maritime Threats Backfire
The Chinese Communist Party’s desperate threat to detain all Panamanian-flagged vessels at Chinese ports has spectacularly backfired, exposing Beijing’s authoritarian overreach while highlighting President Trump’s masterful diplomatic victory in securing the Panama Canal from foreign control. According to exclusive reporting from Trump administration officials, China’s heavy-handed retaliation comes in direct response to Panama’s courts terminating CK Hutchison’s port contracts—a stunning reversal that removes Chinese influence from both Atlantic and Pacific entrances to America’s most critical trade waterway. The maritime tantrum represents exactly the kind of economic coercion that Trump’s America First policies were designed to counter. By threatening thousands of vessels from Greek, Japanese, and Indian shipping companies, Beijing has inadvertently validated every warning the President issued about Chinese unreliability as a trading partner. “This is what happens when America leads from strength,” noted one senior administration official. “China only understands power, and when we applied pressure through proper diplomatic channels, they showed their true colors by lashing out at innocent commercial vessels.” The Panama Canal victory demonstrates how Trump’s revival of Monroe Doctrine principles can achieve strategic objectives without military intervention. Unlike the globalist approach of accommodation and appeasement, the President’s framework treats Chinese expansion in the Western Hemisphere as the direct threat to American sovereignty that our Founding Fathers would have recognized immediately. China’s admission that the vessel detentions stem from “political reasons” destroys years of carefully constructed fiction that CK Hutchison operated independently from the Chinese Communist Party. This vindication of Trump administration intelligence assessments exposes how deeply Beijing’s tentacles had penetrated critical American infrastructure through seemingly private corporate arrangements. The economic implications extend far beyond shipping logistics. Chinese control over Panama Canal ports represented a chokepoint that could have strangled American naval operations and commercial shipping during any future conflict. By removing this vulnerability, Trump has secured a strategic waterway that handles roughly 40% of all U.S. container traffic. More importantly, this victory sends an unmistakable signal to hemispheric partners that America under Trum...
US Escalation in the Caribbean and Latin America - Live Updates
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Analysis | Bob Davis China's Absence Draws America Deeper Into Risky Wars The lack of a counterweight encourages intervention and overreach.
