By. Ashoka Peiris
Panama is a country on the isthmus linking Central and South America. The Panama Canal, a famous feat of human engineering, cuts through its centre, linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to create an essential shipping route. In the capital, Panama City, modern skyscrapers, casinos and nightclubs contrast with colonial buildings in the Casco Viejo district and the rainforest of Natural Metropolitan Park.
The current President of the United States of America, Mr. Donald Trump, has started to touch Panama with his anti-Chinese attitude. Commenting on the issue, Panama Canal Administrator Ricaurte Vásquez said the canal cannot give special treatment to US-flagged ships due to a neutrality agreement.
The Panama Canal will remain in Panamanian hands, and open to commerce from all countries, according to the administrator of the waterway, who rejected claims by president-elect Donald Trump that the US should take it over.
He said Chinese companies operating in the ports on either end of the canal were part of a Hong Kong consortium that won a bidding process in 1997. He added that US and Taiwanese companies are operating other ports along the canal as well.
Among this, two Panamanian lawyers have lodged a lawsuit with the country’s supreme court to cancel a Hong Kong – based company’s concession to operate two ports at either end of the Panama Canal.
In this regard, US secretary of state Marco Rubio has welcomed Panama’s decision to let its participation in China’s global infrastructure plan expire, calling the move “a great step forward” for its ties with the United States.
Any move by Panama to distance itself from Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) represents a win for Washington, which has argued that Beijing uses the scheme for “debt trap diplomacy” to cement its global influence.
Furthermore, Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino has stated that his government will not renew China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Started by China in 2013, the initiative saw Beijing funding infrastructure projects in various countries.
Panama joined the initiative in 2017 under a previous government. Many have welcomed the Panamanian President’s decision to end the partnership with China.