 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
US will not let China disrupt Panama Canal: Pentagon chief Panama City, April 8 (AFP) Apr 08, 2025 US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned during a visit to Panama on Tuesday that the United States will not allow China to jeopardize the operations of the country's vital interoceanic canal. "Today, the Panama Canal faces ongoing threats," Hegseth said in a speech at a police station located at the entry to the shipping route. "The United States of America will not allow communist China or any other country to threaten the canal's operation or integrity," he added. Chinese and US firms are fighting for business on the waterway, which President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to seize over what he sees as China's disproportionate influence in the shipping route. The United States built the more than century-old canal and handed it over to Panama in 1999. A Hong Kong company operates ports at either end of the canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific, through which five percent of all global shipping passes "I want to be very clear. China did not build this canal. China does not operate this canal. And China will not weaponize this canal," Hegseth said. |
|
|
|
All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.
|
