By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-03-17 08:36:30 | Updated at 2025-03-17 21:12:23
12 hours ago
China has sent a senior-level delegation to Panama at a time when relations have been clouded by developments surrounding the Panama Canal, a move seen by observers as an attempt to “understand what is unfolding” and possibly reverse the situation.
According to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, a delegation led by Ma Hui, a vice-minister of the Communist Party’s diplomacy arm, the International Department, visited the Central American country last week, holding talks with “leaders of major political parties” and think tanks.
Ma was quoted as saying that China was “willing to strengthen exchanges with Panama’s political parties and think tanks, enhance mutual understanding and trust, and consolidate the public support foundation for friendly China-Panama relations”.
The visit followed a surprise announcement this month by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing’s CK Hutchison Holdings that it would sell its port operations, including those near the Panama Canal, to a group led by American investment firm BlackRock. That came amid US pressure on Panama to free the canal from what was viewed as Chinese control.
China has fiercely criticised the move, with Beijing’s top office for Hong Kong affairs running several commentaries in pro-China newspaper Ta Kung Pao that described the sale as “betraying” the Chinese people. US President Donald Trump has meanwhile lauded the deal.
Dylan Loh, assistant professor of foreign policy at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, said the Chinese delegation’s visit was likely to be aimed at finding out more about the recent moves by Panama to “acquiesce to US pressure and try to tease out the strategic intent of Washington”.
He said another goal would be to see if Panama’s recent moves were a sign of a “decisive shift” towards the US, and that Beijing would also have been seeking more information on what the sale of ports could potentially mean for China’s trading and shipping routes.
Both Panama and China have dismissed Trump’s claims about Chinese influence over the Panama Canal. But Panama, under mounting pressure from Washington, last month moved to withdraw from China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a decision described by Beijing as “not in the vital interests of Panama”.
