'Hands off' the canal applies to US as well

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday, during his visit to Panama, that the Panama Canal faces ongoing "threats" from China but the United States and the Central American country will keep it secure.

This brazenly calls black white. As the Chinese embassy in Panama said, "People have their own judgement on which party represents the real threat to the Panama Canal."

Speaking at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new US-financed dock at the Vasco Nuñez de Balboa Naval Base after a meeting with Panama President José Raúl Mulino, Hegseth said the US will not allow China or any other country to threaten the canal's operation.

Which parties Panama carries out business with is a "sovereign "decision of Panama that the US doesn't have the right to interfere in. But the US has resorted to "blackmail" to further its own interests. Since the incumbent US administration took office in January, the US has carried out a sensationalized campaign to peddle the "China threat" theory in an attempt to sabotage China-Panama cooperation.

It is absurd for the US administration to allege that Chinese companies' presence in the canal area may violate the treaty under which the US turned the waterway over to Panama in 1999. China has never participated in the operation of the canal, nor has it interfered in the affairs related to it. China has always respected Panama's sovereignty and recognized that the canal is a neutral international waterway.

President Mulino has also denied that China has any influence in the operations of the canal. In February, he expressed frustration at the persistence of the narrative. "We aren't going to speak about what is not reality, but rather those issues that interest both countries." But still the US defense chief has tried to hype up that false narrative.

"I want to be very clear, China did not build this canal," Hegseth said. "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 through the deterrent power of the strongest, most effective and most lethal fighting force in the world."

He should be reminded that China is no different than any other country and that it did not build and does not operate the canal does not deny China's right to use the international waterway, which, as he said, has been secure and available for all nations.

Since the treaty between the US and Panama has stipulated the sovereignty of the canal belongs to the latter, the US is also no different from any other country in its obligation to respect Panama's sovereignty over the canal even if it did build it. That being said, it is the US that has shown the intention to breach the treaty that calls for the permanent neutrality of the canal by trying to pressure the Panamanian government to give its control of the canal to the US using the "China threat "lie as the excuse.

People have enough reasons to believe once the US controls the canal, it will use it as a toll station to fleece any party it wants to or leverage it as a bargaining chip in its trade talks with other countries. The US control of the canal will be a nightmare for world trade and international logistics citing "America built, America served".

China-Panama cooperation, which spans investment, infrastructure and finance, brings tangible benefits to the two peoples, and doesn't target the US. Developing relations with China is the choice of Panama as a sovereign state and the Panamanian people.

That the US has been hyping up the "China threat" theory in disregard of facts and trying to undermine the cooperation between China and Panama is entirely out of its own geopolitical calculations. The US side should reflect on its own bullying and plundering of developing countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Panama, and stop distorting and slandering China. Instead of smearing China and sowing discord everywhere, it would be better for the US to focus on how to help benefit the local people.

Panama's sovereignty and independence are not negotiable, and the canal is not and should not be directly or indirectly controlled by any other country.