China and the United States traded accusations over Panama’s sovereignty over ports used in maritime trade, as a new round of statements escalated a dispute that has drawn in Washington’s regional allies and intensified China’s pushback.
The U.S. State Department accused China of violating Panama’s sovereignty amid the port dispute, according to a joint statement released Tuesday with a handful of smaller U.S. allies in the region—Bolivia, Costa Rica, Guyana, Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago—that said the action was a “blatant attempt to politicize maritime trade” and that they “stand in solidarity with Panama.”
The U.S. dispute centered on allegations that China was detaining or holding up dozens of Panama-flagged ships. The exchanges build on earlier comments by Rubio, who accused China of “bullying” by detaining or holding up vessels for a short period after Panama seized control of two critical ports earlier this year from a subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company. China denied those allegations.
Rubio backed the U.S. position publicly on Tuesday night, writing in a social media post that “The sovereignty of our hemisphere is non-negotiable.” The remarks came as Washington portrayed the matter as one involving sovereignty and an attempt to politicize trade, while China sought to frame the accusations as misplaced.
In a news conference Wednesday, Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, said the statements were “completely unfounded and distort reality.” He argued that the dispute raised questions about who had “occupied the Panama Canal for a long time” and whether the canal, described by Jian as an international waterway “meant to remain permanently neutral,” was being treated as territory by another party.
Jian said the United States “has politicized and securitized the issue of ports,” and he directly challenged the premise that China was the party violating sovereignty. He also asked, rhetorically, who “invaded Panama with its military” and who “arbitrarily trampled on its sovereignty and dignity,” calling the answer “self-evident.”
Panama also sought to manage the diplomatic heat. Shortly after Jian’s remarks, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino wrote in a statement that he appreciated the “solidarity of friendly countries” over the Panamanian-flagged vessels in Chinese ports, while adding that Panama did not wish to engage in controversy and valued “respectful relations with all nations.”
The latest clash reflects a wider geopolitical context in which U.S. President Donald Trump has adopted a more aggressive stance toward Latin America than administrations in past decades. The AP account tied the dispute to developments that include Trump administration actions related to Venezuela, Cuba and Mexican cartels, as Washington presses to counter China’s growing presence in the region.
Panama’s role in international trade—particularly through the Panama Canal—has made it a focal point in the rivalry between the two superpowers after Trump accused Beijing last year of running the waterway. In that setting, the port dispute has become another front in the competition, with each side using sovereignty language as the center of its argument.
As the U.S. and China traded statements again Wednesday, the episode left Panama attempting to balance its support among regional partners with a desire to avoid a broader confrontation, even as the dispute over the ports continued to draw Washington and Beijing into direct confrontation.