Panama was the primary Latin American nation to formally endorse BRI in November 2017, 5 months after switching diplomatic ties to China from Taiwan, the democratically ruled island Beijing claims as its territory.
China rejects Western criticism of the plan, saying effectively over 100 international locations have joined it, boosting world growth with new ports, bridges, railway and different initiatives.
Nonetheless, it has been mired in controversy, with some associate nations bemoaning the excessive value of initiatives and struggling to repay loans. Italy withdrew from the initiative in 2023 beneath US strain over issues about Beijing’s financial attain.
Such US issues have lengthy prolonged to some Chinese language firms’ operations close to the Panama Canal, together with a Hong Kong-based agency working two ports at each entrances of the waterway, constructed by america within the early twentieth century and handed over to Panama in 1999.
Two Chinese language state-owned corporations are individually constructing a fourth bridge over one of many canal’s entrances.
