A drone photo shows vessels sailing on the Panama Canal near Panama City, Panama, Aug. 28, 2024. File Photo:Xinhua

Panama's top political leaders held a ceremony to mark the 25th anniversary of the return of the Panama Canal after decades of US control on Tuesday, during which Panamanian President Jose Raul stressed that the Panama Canal would remain in Panama's possession, according to media reports.
 
"There are no hands involved in the canal other than Panama’s,” Mulino said in the capital Panama City. “Rest assured, it will be in our hands forever."
 
The commemoration was made more poignant by the death on Sunday of former US president Jimmy Carter, who negotiated the 1999 handover deal.
 
On December 21, in a post on his online platform Truth Social, US president-elect Donald Trump claimed that Panamanian officials were charging “exorbitant prices” for canal passage. Trump indicated that Panama was violating a 1977 agreement that established conditions for the canal to shift from the US to Panamanian hands.

“This complete ‘rip-off’ of our country will immediately stop,” Trump wrote in the first of two lengthy posts. In the second, he continued with a warning.

“If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question,” he wrote.
 
The 1977 treaties "put an end to an era of subjugation and began a period of independence and dignity," another former Panamanian president Martin Torrijos told AFP.

"Any attempt to reverse or violate our sovereignty will be condemned and rejected by all Panamanians," he added.
 
China will as always respect Panama’s sovereignty over the Canal and recognize the Canal as a permanently neutral international waterway, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Friday, in response to a question about Trump's claim that there are Chinese soldiers stationed at the Panama Canal.

The Panama Canal is a great creation of the people of Panama. It is a golden waterway for connectivity among countries. China has always supported the people of Panama in their just cause for sovereignty over the Canal, Mao said.

Mao emphasized Mulino's latest statement that the Panama Canal remains free from direct or indirect control of any power.
 
President Mulino denied Trump’s claims regarding the presence of Chinese soldiers at the Panama Canal, dismissing the claim as "nonsense" and asserting that there is "absolutely no Chinese interference," according to the BBC.

Global Times