However, Chinese businesses have been extensively engaged in infrastructure projects along the canal since Beijing was able to persuade Panama to join its “Belt and Road” trade plan in 2018.
Major ports at each end of the canal are also operated by Chinese corporations; in 2021, Hong Kong-based.
Hutchinson PPC was able to successfully extend a 25-year license for the management of the ports of Balboa and Cristobal.
In 2016, the China-based Landbridge Group also paid $900 million to take up Margarita Island, Panama’s main port on the Atlantic side and a significant free-trade area.
As a result of the agreement, the Panama-Colon Container Port (PCCP), a deep-water port for enormous ships, was built.
It was constructed by the state-owned China Communications Construction Company, which the US Department of Commerce sanctioned.
