{"id":721,"date":"2025-04-09T18:37:34","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T18:37:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/?p=721"},"modified":"2025-04-14T11:26:39","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T11:26:39","slug":"china-accuses-us-of-blackmail-after-hegseths-panama-canal-remarks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/09\/china-accuses-us-of-blackmail-after-hegseths-panama-canal-remarks\/","title":{"rendered":"China accuses US of ‘blackmail’ after Hegseth’s Panama Canal remarks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chinese government is accusing the U.S. of \u201cblackmail\u201d after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared Beijing a threat to the Panama Canal, asserting that Washington along with Panama \u201cwill take back\u201d the waterway from Chinese influence.<\/p>\n

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said Hegseth had \u201cmaliciously attacked China\u201d with his comments<\/a> and was sabotaging China-Panama cooperation.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone knows who wants to control the Panama Canal,\u201d ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters. \u201cThe U.S. side should take a look in the mirror to see who really threatens the sovereignty, security, and development of other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lin also accused the U.S. of \u201cspreading rumors and sowing discord,\u201d calling on Washington to \u201cstop deliberately linking China to the canal issue to find excuses for the U.S.’s desire to control the Canal.\u201d<\/p>\n

And a day earlier, the Chinese Embassy in Panama accused the U.S. of using \u201cblackmail\u201d to further its own interests and said Washington did not have a right to interfere with whom Panama carries out business.<\/p>\n

Asked about Beijing\u2019s accusations on Wednesday, Hegseth replied: \u201cI don\u2019t know anything about blackmail … but I do know about strength, peace through strength and deterrence.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hegseth during a Tuesday ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new U.S.-financed dock on the Panama Canal said the U.S. \u201cwill not allow communist China or any other country to threaten the canal\u2019s operation or integrity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He highlighted the growing security relationship between Washington and Panama City to counter Beijing, warning that Chinese companies \u201ccontinue to control critical infrastructure\u201d in the canal, giving Beijing the \u201cpotential to conduct surveillance activities\u201d across the country.<\/p>\n

The comments follow assertions<\/a> from President Trump that China effectively controls the trade route via two major ports on either end of the shipping lane.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In his message, Hegseth alluded to those ports, which are controlled by CK Hutchison, a private company in Hong Kong now in the process of selling its controlling stake to U.S. investment firm BlackRock Inc.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis makes Panama and the United States less secure, less prosperous and less sovereign,\u201d Hegseth said of the potential Chinese spying. \u201cAnd as President Donald Trump has pointed out, that situation is not acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

And on Wednesday, Hegseth said the U.S. was \u201cstanding up to malign Chinese influence,\u201d with its security partnership with Panama.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Chinese government is accusing the U.S. of \u201cblackmail\u201d after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared Beijing a threat to the Panama Canal, asserting that Washington along with Panama \u201cwill take back\u201d the waterway from Chinese influence. The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said Hegseth had \u201cmaliciously attacked China\u201d with his comments and was sabotaging China-Panama cooperation. \u201cEveryone knows who wants to control the Panama Canal,\u201d ministry spokesperson Lin Jian…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=721"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":722,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721\/revisions\/722"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}