Foreign media reported today (July 2) that U.S. President Trump said on July 1, "China is now trying to take over the Panama Canal, and we will never let it succeed."
Trump's public statement has directly exposed America's ambition to firmly control the Panama Canal, revealing its arrogant hegemony in full.
From earlier instances where Panama tore up a Chinese investment contract for a port operating legally for nearly 30 years, to the current U.S. direct intervention and statements, the entire sequence of actions has become clear: the United States views the Panama Canal as a core strategic channel within its own "backyard," absolutely refusing to allow Chinese capital to maintain a legal operational presence at this critical node—going so far as to employ political pressure and capital substitution tactics to systematically squeeze out Chinese enterprises' space for survival.
The Panamanian government, under intense U.S. pressure, has continuously compromised, completely abandoning its position of autonomous decision-making, leading to systematic exclusion of Chinese firms. The U.S.'s hegemonic maneuvers essentially use a zero-sum logic to transform the world’s most important shipping chokepoint into a private domain under its own control.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1869579867000832/
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