{"id":637042,"date":"2026-04-29T20:23:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T20:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/637042\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T20:23:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T20:23:16","slug":"china-calls-us-hypocritical-for-expressing-concern-over-panamas-sovereignty-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/637042\/","title":{"rendered":"China calls US hypocritical for expressing concern over Panama\u2019s sovereignty \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

PANAMA CITY (AP) \u2014 The U.S. State Department accused China of violating Panama\u2019s sovereignty over a port dispute in the Central American nation, triggering another fierce back-and-forth on Wednesday as the Chinese government called the Trump administration hypocritical.<\/p>\n

The most recent spat was triggered in early April when Rubio accused China of \u201cbullying\u201d by detaining or holding up dozens of Panama-flagged ships \u2014 though for a short period of time \u2014 after the Central American country seized control of two critical ports on the canal earlier this year from a subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company. China denied the allegations.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department released a joint statement with a handful of smaller U.S. allies in the region \u2014 Bolivia, Costa Rica, Guyana, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago \u2014 saying that the action was a \u201cblatant attempt to politicize maritime trade\u201d and that they \u201cstand in solidarity with Panama.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Cranes
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCranes load and unload containers from cargo ships at the Panama Canal’s Rodman Port, operated by PSA International, in Panama City, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo\/Matias Delacroix)<\/p>\n

The comments come as U.S. President Donald Trump has taken a more aggressive stance on Latin America than administrations in past decades, capturing Venezuela\u2019s president in an overnight raid and pushing massive reforms in Venezuela, imposing an oil blockade on Cuba, meddling in elections and threatening military action on Mexican cartels.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sovereignty of our hemisphere is non-negotiable,\u201d wrote U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a social media post on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China\u2019s Foreign Ministry in a news conference Wednesday said the statements \u201care completely unfounded and distort reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWho occupied the Panama Canal for a long time, invaded Panama with its military, and arbitrarily trampled on its sovereignty and dignity? Who covets the Panama Canal, seeks to turn this international waterway \u2014 meant to remain permanently neutral \u2014 into its own territory, and disregards the sovereignty of regional countries? The answer is self-evident,\u201d Jian said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one who has politicized and securitized the issue of ports is the United States,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Sign<\/p>\n

Shortly after, Panamanian President Jos\u00e9 Ra\u00fal Mulino wrote in a statement that he appreciated the \u201csolidarity of friendly countries\u201d over the Panamanian-flagged vessels in Chinese ports, but appeared to try and diffuse mounting tensions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not wish to engage in controversy, as we value respectful relations with all nations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The U.S. has long sought to offset China\u2019s growing presence in Latin America. Panama, in part due to its crucial role in international trade with the Panama Canal, has been particularly caught in a broader rivalry between the two superpowers after Trump accused Beijing last year of running the international waterway.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow AP\u2019s Latin America coverage at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/latin-america<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PANAMA CITY (AP) \u2014 The U.S. State Department accused China of violating Panama\u2019s sovereignty over a port dispute…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-637042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}