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Rubio to Visit Panama Amid Rising Tensions Over Canal

The new secretary of state’s first official visit to Central America will include discussions on mass migration.
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Rubio to Visit Panama Amid Rising Tensions Over Canal
Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the State Department in Washington on Jan. 21, 2025. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
Darlene McCormick Sanchez
By Darlene McCormick Sanchez
1/23/2025Updated: 1/26/2025
0:00

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to make his first trip abroad next week, which will include a stop in Panama amid rising tensions over President Donald Trump’s vow to take back the Panama Canal.

“China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back,” Trump said during his inaugural speech.

Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino has denied that China is running the canal and said it won’t be returned to the United States.

Tammy Bruce, State Department spokeswoman, said Rubio—a former Florida senator with Cuban roots—also planned to visit El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic.

Bruce said the visit stemmed from Rubio’s interest in the region and his desire to strengthen ties with Central American countries, in particular to battle illegal immigration.

Rubio may have his work cut out for him during his visit to Panama as tensions over Trump’s comments have escalated.

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During his confirmation hearing, he characterized the Panamanian government as “very friendly to the United States and very cooperative.”

“We want that to continue,” Rubio said.

One bright spot during the visit could include working with Panama to curtail mass migration.

Mulino campaigned on shutting down illegal immigration through Panama’s Darien Gap.

However, the focus on the Panama Canal could overshadow immigration talks.

Rubio noted during his hearing that Chinese companies’ control of two of the five port facilities on the canal has been a concern for a decade.

Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings has controlled Balboa on the Pacific side and Cristobal on the Atlantic side of the canal since 1997, with those concessions renewed in 2021 for another 25 years.

During a 2017 trip to Panama, Rubio said he discussed China’s influence along the waterway, which is a choke point with military value. It’s a critical pathway for U.S. warships in the Atlantic and Pacific.

He said military and security officials in Panama said during his visit that Beijing could potentially use its commercial ports during a military conflict.

“[There are] no independent Chinese companies,” Rubio said. “They all exist because they’ve been identified as national champions. They’re supported by the Chinese government.”

The Chinese Communist Party mandates that Chinese companies cooperate with state intelligence agencies.

China began to invest in Panama between 2016 and 2017, and the money had strings attached, according to Rubio.

The China-based Landbridge struck a $900 million deal in 2016 to control Margarita Island, Panama’s largest port on the Atlantic side, to build a deepwater port.

In 2017, Panama signed on to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, dubbed a modern Silk Road, after publicly recognizing Taiwan as part of China, much to the surprise and concern of the United States.

In 2018, during Trump’s first term in office, U.S. and domestic Panamanian pressure was credited with ending China’s plan to construct a large embassy at the mouth of the canal, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

That same year, a Chinese consortium headed by China Harbor Engineering Co. (CHEC), and state-owned China Communications Construction Co. (CCCC) was awarded a $1.4 billion contract for the canal’s fourth bridge.

The CCCC was involved in constructing China’s man-made islands in the disputed South China Sea.

On the Pacific side of the canal, in the spring of 2024, Chinese companies completed work on the enormous Amador Pacific Coast cruise terminal built by the CHEC.

Who Has De Facto Control?

This month, in an interview with the Associated Press, canal administrator Ricaurte Vásquez rejected claims that the canal was controlled by China while noting that U.S. and Taiwanese businesses also operate ports along the canal.

The Panama Canal Authority manages the administration and maintenance of the waterway’s resources and security. It operates independently of the Panamanian government.

“I mean, that’s one of those things that is factual but not truthful,” said Joshua Trevino, a former vice president of policy at the Pacific Research Institute and current policy analyst for the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

The canal authority may technically control the waterway, but Chinese companies also have functional control over the ports and pay the bills, he told The Epoch Times.

“If you have the financial and operational control—which they do—the titular government is a lot less important than those two things,” he said.

Eva Fu, Ryan Morgan, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Darlene McCormick Sanchez
Darlene McCormick Sanchez
Reporter
Darlene McCormick Sanchez is an Epoch Times reporter who covers border security and immigration, election integrity, and Texas politics. Ms. McCormick Sanchez has 20 years of experience in media and has worked for outlets including Waco Tribune Herald, Tampa Tribune, and Waterbury Republican-American. She was a finalist for a Pulitzer prize for investigative reporting.
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