Truth and Reconciliation between the U.S. and Panama on the deployment of Chinese troops in the Panama Canal

In response to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's comments suggesting the possibility of deploying Chinese troops in the Panama Canal, Panama's president dismissed them as groundless, sparking a battle of truth between the two countries.

"There are no Chinese soldiers in the Panama Canal," Panama President Jose Raúl Mulino told a regular weekly news conference, adding that "no foreign military forces, including China, are stationed in the canal."

In particular, he spoke with a sigh and emphatically of words like "not at all" and "never," denying Trump's insistence on the deployment of the Panama Canal by the Chinese military.

Earlier, Trump said on social media Truth Social, "Happy Christmas to China's great soldiers who carefully but illegally operate the Panama Canal."

This has led to allegations that China has strengthened its influence on the Panama Canal, which has been interpreted as a backdrop for why Trump is referring to the possibility of taking back control of the canal.

Earlier on the 21st, Trump expressed dissatisfaction with the toll, saying the treatment of the U.S. using the Panama Canal was unfair, and warned that he could "demand the return of the canal."

Panama's president, who reacted furiously, saying, "I can't give up even a square meter of land," said, "If you're trying to talk with the intention of reconsidering the legal and political reality of the Panama Canal, I have nothing to say."

The Panama Canal, a shortcut connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, was first opened in 1914 in the United States with enormous manpower and capital.

After the United States signed a treaty with Panama, a new independent country, and built it, it operated directly for about 85 years before returning the right to operate to Panama on December 31, 1999.

Panama later completed the canal expansion in 2016 after nine years of construction that cost $5.6 billion.