After talks with Panaman government, Hegseth vowed to deepen
security cooperation with Panamanian security forces and said China would not
be allowed to "weaponize" the canal by using Chinese firms'
commercial relationships for espionage.
"Together, we will take back the Panama Canal from
China's influence," Hegseth said, speaking at a pier renovated with U.S.
assistance in Panama City.
"China did not build this canal. China does not operate
this canal and China will not weaponize this canal. Together with Panama in the
lead, we will keep the canal secure and available for all nations."
More than 40% of US container traffic, valued at roughly US$270
billion a year, goes through the Panama Canal, accounting for more than
two-thirds of vessels passing each day through the world's second-busiest
interoceanic waterway.
Hegseth, the first US defense secretary in decades to visit
Panama, flew over the canal in a Black Hawk helicopter after meeting US troops
and Panamanian security forces. He also toured the Miraflores lock, waving to
sailors passing through on a container ship.
His language appeared fine-tuned, talking tough but offering
some assurances to Panamanians still unsettled by Trump’s threats to
reclaim the canal.
While
Hegseth spoke about removing Chinese influence, Trump has spoken in broader
terms and not ruled out using military force.
Hegseth's trip follows reports that the Trump administration
has requested options from the US military to ensure access to the canal, which
the United States built more than a century ago and handed over to Panama in
1999.
Trump has complained that was a bad deal for the United
States.
Given Trump's tough rhetoric, the stakes were high for
Hegseth's visit.
"On the whole, this hasn't been a winning issue for the
United States in terms of public diplomacy in Panama," said Ryan Berg,
director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International
Studies.
Still, current and former US officials and experts say the
United States has found a willing partner in tackling Chinese influence in
Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino, whom Hegseth met earlier on Tuesday.
In February, Mulino announced Panama's formal move to
exit China's Belt and Road Initiative and he has aided Trump's crackdown
on migrants.
He has accepted deportation flights of non-Panamanians and
worked to stem migration from South America by those crossing through his
country's dangerous Darien jungle.
Hegseth praised Mulino, saying his government understood the
threat from China, and his remarks about Panama being in the lead on addressing
the canal's security concerns appeared to be a nod to Panamanian sensitivities.
During his visits to bases, which once had names including
Fort Sherman and Rodman Naval Station before the US exit, Hegseth spoke about
the canal as "key terrain" and held out hope for more frequent
engagements by US troops, including by revitalizing a jungle survival training
center.
"In reality or in perception, the communist Chinese
have had designs on more control of this canal, and to that we say Not on our
watch," Hegseth told US troops and Panamanian security forces. "We
will grow our partnership even more."
Hegseth, a US military veteran and former Fox News host, has
enthusiastically backed Trump's southern-focused security agenda, by means such
as dispatching U.S. troops to the US border with Mexico, offering space at a
base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to detain migrants, and military aircraft for
deportation flights.
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