Hegseth: US, Panama will 'take back' canal from Chinese influence
The United States and Panama will work together to take back the Panama Canal from “China’s influence,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday while standing in front of the vital shipping lane.
Hegseth, who was in Panama to meet with its government officials, spoke from a new U.S.-financed pier at the Vasco Nuñez de Balboa Naval Base, where he said Beijing would not be allowed to "weaponize" the canal via a commercial presence.
“The United States of America will not allow communist China or any other country to threaten the canal's operation or integrity,” he said.
He noted that the U.S. and Panama strengthened their defense and security cooperation in recent weeks and together “will take back the Panama Canal from China's influence.”
“China did not build this canal. China does not operate this canal and China will not weaponize this canal,” Hegseth said from the pier. “Together with Panama in the lead, we will keep the canal secure and available for all nations.”
The message had a conciliatory tone compared with that of his boss, President Trump, who has vowed to take back the Panama Canal from Panama. Trump has claimed that China effectively controls the trade route via two major ports on either end of the shipping lane.
Panama has rejected these assertions, pointing to its withdrawal earlier this year of its Belt and Road Initiative agreements with Beijing, made in 2017.
Trump has not ruled out the use of military force in taking over the canal, and NBC News last month reported that the White House had directed the Pentagon “to draw up options to increase the American troop presence in Panama.”
Trump in his March 5 congressional address also claimed that “to further enhance our national security, my administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we’ve already started doing it.”
But Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino asserted the canal “is, and will continue to be, Panamanian,” as it has been since 1999.
Hegseth’s visit to the country included a meeting with Mulino as well as Panama Public Security Minister Frank Abrego and other officials.
The Pentagon chief notably did not assert that China controls the canal or that the U.S. should reclaim it, instead lauding a growing security relationship between the two countries “in part to meet communist China's rising challenges.”
He also warned that Chinese companies continue to install “critical infrastructure” in the canal, giving Beijing the “potential” ability to “conduct surveillance.”
The Panama Canal is the world's second-busiest interoceanic shipping lane and is vital to U.S. container traffic, with roughly $270 billion worth of goods passing through the waterway annually.