The Panama Canal is back in the headlines after President Donald Trump raised political and security concerns over the future of the strategic waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The heart of his argument is that the canal, built and paid for by the United States in the early 20th century is now coming under Chinese communist influence.
Indeed, 25 years after the US transferred full control of the canal to the Republic of Panama, there's growing evidence of Chinese interests alongside the strategic waterway.
Thus, Mr Trump dispatched Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Panama to address the situation with the Panamanian leadership. According to the State Department, Mr Rubio informed President José Raúl Mulino that "President Trump has made a preliminary determination that the current position of influence and control of the Chinese Communist Party over the Panama Canal area is a threat to the canal and represents a violation of the Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal."
Significantly, Mr Rubio "made clear that this status quo is unacceptable and that absent immediate changes, it would require the United States to take measures necessary to protect its rights under the Treaty." Tough talk indeed. But let's face it, the 1977 Neutrality Treaty signed with Panama covers this very contingency and security concern.
Built largely during Teddy Roosevelt's Administration between 1904 and 1914, the canal across the narrow isthmus of Panama represented a superlative achievement of American engineering and technology, which to this day serves as a major transit for safe trans-continental shipping. But back in the 1970s, after long and acrimonious negotiations between the United States and Panama, the Carter administration agreed to cede control of the Canal and the adjoining Canal Zone, a security buffer along both sides of the waterway, to the Republic of Panama.
Though Jimmy Carter and Panama's stereotypical strongman leader, Colonel Omar Torrijos, decided on a deal, the formal treaties had to be ratified by the US Senate as per constitutional mandate. Importantly, the Neutrality Treaty stated that the US could use its military to defend the Panama Canal against any threat to its neutrality and equally allowed perpetual US usage of the canal.
This first treaty remains the crux of the argument and contemporary concerns about Chinese communist inroads around the waterway. Chinese companies' operations near the Panama Canal, including a Hong Kong-based firm operating two ports at each end of the waterway, have long raised security concerns.
The second, The Panama Canal Treaty stated that the Canal Zone would cease to exist on Oct 1, 1979, and the canal would be turned over to Panamanian sovereignty on Dec 31, 1999. Both treaties were signed in September 1977.
The Panama Canal Treaty debate triggered a domestic political firestorm across America where citizens opposing Carter's deal spoke of the American Canal in Panama, while proponents claimed that Washington's treaty would lessen growing political hostility across parts of Latin America over US control of a part of a sovereign Latin country.
After six months of acrimonious national debate, both the treaties were voted on in 1978 and subsequently ratified by the US Senate by a narrow margin of 68 to 32.
This writer visited Panama a few years after the treaties to assess the political climate following President Carter's controversial deal. The canal up close remains an engineering masterpiece integrating complicated lock systems and waterways to transit merchant and military vessels.
The key issue remains that on the Atlantic/Caribbean side is the Port of Colon and Balboa on the Pacific side, nearby capital Panama City, along with the former US Howard Air Force Base. The canal spanning the narrow isthmus is 82 kilometres wide with a series of locks, can handle all but the largest ships. Typically, 12,000 vessels transit the waterway annually; crossing takes between 8-10 hours from ocean to ocean, thus saving long voyage times and fuel.
Back in 2017, Panama broke diplomatic ties with Taipei thus opening an already burgeoning business relationship with Beijing. Since that rupture in relations, Panama became the first Latin American country to endorse China's Belt and Road (BRI) later that year. Since the Rubio trip, Panama has withdrawn from Beijing's BRI plan!
On another note, Mr Rubio also underscored close cooperation with Panama to end the hemisphere's illegal migration crisis, especially transiting through Panama's Darien Gap. The Secretary of State described his trip as having achieved "potentially really good things", adding, "We don't want to have a hostile or negative relationship with Panama."
John J Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defence issues.