China has been accused of taking control of critical infrastructure in the canal area.
The United States is partnering with Panama as part of efforts to secure the Panama Canal and counter the Chinese Communist Party’s “maligned influence” in the region, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on April 9.
“The Panama Canal is key terrain that must be secured by Panama, with America and not China,” Hegseth said at a joint press conference with Panamanian Public Security Minister Frank Abrego.
U.S. and Panamanian officials signed a memorandum of understanding on bilateral security matters in the region that will help expand joint training exercises between the two countries and improve overall interoperability between their military forces, Hegseth said.
The agreement will also reestablish a rotational joint presence at a handful of previously operational U.S. military installations including Rodman Naval Station and Howard Air Force Base, as well as Fort Sherman.
Hegseth added that jungle operations would be revived at an operations center so that U.S. and Panamanian troops can train side by side.
Officials also plan to sign a separate declaration related to the security and operation of the Panama Canal that will provide a framework for U.S. warships and auxiliary ships to travel “first and free” through the canal, the defense secretary stated.
Overall, the documents signed “reaffirm” the United States’ and Panama’s “historic ties and outline how we will deepen our relationship and strengthen bilateral canal security cooperation,” Hegseth said.
Additionally, the agreements will see the two nations expand their security relationship when it comes to information sharing, enhanced cyber cooperation, bilateral security dialogues, and canal infrastructure improvements.
“The era of capitulating to coercion by the communist Chinese is over,” he said, adding that the Chinese regime’s “growing and adversarial control of strategic land and critical infrastructure in this hemisphere cannot and will not stand.”
The Chinese regime has accused Hegseth of having “maliciously attacked” the nation after he said the United States would not allow China or any other country to threaten the canal’s operation or integrity and would work together with Panama to “take back” the crucial trade route from under Chinese influence.
Speaking at a ribbon-cutting event at the Vasco Nuñez de Balboa Naval Base on April 8, Hegseth said that “China-based companies” were still controlling critical infrastructure in the canal area, appearing to allude to Hong Kong-based consortium CK Hutchison, which holds a 25-year lease on ports at both ends of the canal.
This, he said, gives the communist regime the potential to conduct surveillance activities across Panama and “makes Panama and the United States less secure, less prosperous and less sovereign.”
