Panama hasn't realised it's the Year of the Wood Snake
"You can sail a cargo ship, from sea to shining sea, through the Panama Canal, for a nominal fee.”
American foreign policy is like old school parenting, and self-righteousness is a full circle.
When your innocent daughter refuses guilt, hit her with a stick. She’ll cry sorry, and then you’ll say, “Why didn’t you save yourself the pain by admitting that in the beginning.”
Big words came before bendy knees. Panama’ president has followed Colombia’s example by switching from defiance to submission to the USA within days.
In a response to sweet words delivered by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino has publicly stated that he will pull his country out of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. He has allegedly promised to prioritise the free transfer of American war ships (which is the Western synonym for the neutrality the Panama Canal stands for).
China has yet to master foreign diplomacy. It keeps on building necessary infrastructure in small countries instead of bullying them.
It will probably finish the fourth bridge over the canal, but the railway lines Panama desperately needs will be in jeopardy. Furthermore, China has a massive port around the corner, in Peru, that it wouldn’t want to get lonely.
But guarantees are guarantees. The current Belt deal only ends in 2026, and CK Hutchinson, a private Hong Kong company, is contracted to control two ports at the canal’s entrances until 2046.
President Mulino is in an impossible position. Or maybe it’s a possible position wherein he finds a legal loophole and the USA pays him something in return.
During absurdity, it’s best we discard analysing geopolitics to embrace a spiritual meaning in watery mess? Surely it isn’t coincidence that there’s an epic Hongkongese movie called ‘2046’, and that we’re at the start of the Chinese Year of the Wood Snake which is associated with wisdom and adaptability?
“Yo, Hal, the canal is your pal!
You can sail a cargo ship, from sea to shining sea,
through the Panama Canal, for a nominal fee.”