Some Panamanian lawmakers fall prey to ploys: China Daily editorial

Instigated by US Ambassador to Panama Kevin Cabrera, on Tuesday some Panamanian lawmakers joined the "Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China". The alliance as its name suggests, is an international, cross-party body of parliamentarians that hold hostile attitudes toward China because of their political bias and Cold War mentality.

Cabrera said that the Latin American country's lawmakers can use the IPAC to access US support to help Panama counter China's "influence" that he claimed was evident around the world "from cyberattacks in Central European and Latin American countries to economic practices that generate significant debt for the countries".

To back up his smears, Cabrera mentioned a case of a Chinese-owned company that owes the Panamanian government $600 million, a figure he said was confirmed by Panama's Comptroller General's Office.

But that "debt" suddenly appeared after the US administration, citing a "China threat", pressed the company to transfer to US entities the managerial rights of the Panama Canal that the company contracted from the Panamanian government for 25 years in 1997, and extended for another 25 years in 2021.

As Foreign Ministry spokespersons said when asked about the incident during recent news conferences, China all along firmly opposes economic coercion and domineering and bullying practices.

Cabrera's move represents the latest proof of the US' coercive and bullying actions in that regard, and a brazen attempt to drive a wedge between China and Panama that has been condemned by China as well as many in the Panamanian society. That only nine out of 71 members of the country's legislature bit the US' hook shows the majority of the Panamanian lawmakers have seen through the US' tricks.

The spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Panama said in a statement that it is "despicable" for the US to instigate some Panamanian lawmakers to join the IPAC to "tie them to the US' anti-China chariot".

Although the IPAC labels itself as a "neutral" nongovernmental cross-party alliance of lawmakers that claims to "defend democracy and human rights", it is in fact an anti-China political organization, cofounded by then senator Marco Rubio in 2020, that serves the US' anti-China agenda.

All of the IPAC's three major sponsors — Open Society Foundations, the National Endowment for Democracy, which is funded by the US government, and the so-called Taiwan Foundation for Democracy — are active funding parties behind anti-China projects around the world, ranging from those related to the Xinjiang Uygur and Xizang autonomous regions and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Succeeding Rubio, John Moolenaar, chair of the House Select Committee on China, was named the new US cochair of the puppet organization of the US. Upon his appointment in April, Moolenaar highlighted the work of the IPAC, saying "I am especially focused on addressing the growing challenges" posed by what he alleged were China's efforts to "undermine democratic institutions and influence global policies".

The formation of such anti-China "cliques" around the world as the IPAC is a common US tactic to suppress and contain China. The IPAC, which spreads lies and rumors about China, has absolutely no credibility, as the embassy spokesperson said.

By concocting lies about China's "control" over the Panama Canal and maliciously attacking China, Washington is merely creating excuses to justify its own control of the canal, advance its expansion and pursue its Monroe Doctrine.

In instigating the Panamanian lawmakers to join the IPAC, the US ambassador to Panama is doing what he has been tasked to do.

During a news conference at his official residence in May, shortly after his arrival in Panama, Cabrera said that his primary focus would be to enhance collaborative efforts to address "harmful influences" in the region, specifically mentioning China as "an unsuitable ally" for both Panama and the broader hemisphere.

It is ridiculous that the primary focus of the top US envoy in Panama is to ruin its relations with another country.

China-Panama relations benefit both the Latin American country and its people and enjoy broad support from all sectors of Panama.

The members of the National Assembly of Panama, the highest legislative body of the country, represent the will and interests of the people. The parliamentarians concerned should open their eyes, prioritize national dignity and avoid becoming pawns serving the US' geopolitical interests.