China Reacts to Pete Hegseth’s Panama Canal Remarks

The Chinese government responded after U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth warned Tuesday that the Panama Canal remains under persistent threat from China.

“The United States will not allow China or any other nation to jeopardize the operation of the canal,” Hegseth said. “To this end, the United States and Panama have done more in recent weeks to strengthen our defense and security cooperation than we have in decades.”

The remarks drew a response from the Chinese government, which countered: “Who represents the real threat to the Canal? People will make their own judgment.”

Hegseth’s comments, made during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new U.S.-funded dock at the Vasco Nuñez de Balboa Naval Base, followed a meeting with Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino.

Shortly after the meeting, the Chinese Embassy in Panama slammed the American government in a statement on X, saying the U.S. has used “blackmail” to further its own interests and that who Panama carries out business with is a “sovereign decision of Panama … and something the U.S. doesn’t have the right to interfere in.”

“The U.S. has carried out a sensationalistic campaign about the ‘theoretical Chinese threat’ in an attempt to sabotage Chinese-Panamanian cooperation, which is all just rooted in the United States’ own geopolitical interests,” the embassy wrote.

This is a developing news story and will be updated as more information is available.

Reporting by the Associated Press contributed to this story.