Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is warning about the threat of China and accusing the country of attempting to seize the Panama Canal to go after the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe communist Chinese want to control politicians,\u201d Hegseth said on Fox News. \u201cThey\u2019re building infrastructure projects. They want to surveil. They want to take that canal. President Trump says, not on our watch, and we\u2019re fighting back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hegseth stated that the United States has been \u201casleep at the wheel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week, the Defense Department touted several important triumphs won by Hegseth in Panama, including an agreement on a joint declaration that will allow US warships and auxiliary ships to travel \u201cfirst and free\u201d via the canal. The two countries also reached an agreement on joint security activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hegseth cited Panama\u2019s withdrawal from China\u2019s Belt and Road Initiative as evidence that the two countries are cooperating. Hegseth also complimented Trump\u2019s efforts to reach a diplomatic settlement with Iran over its nuclear program, but he warned that if an agreement is not reached, the Defense Department may take more drastic measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPresident Trump said in his State of the Union address China has too much influence over the Panama Canal, and America\u2019s going the take it back. That\u2019s exactly what I was charged to do, what we\u2019re continuing to do. China\u2019s influence cannot control our own backyard, especially a critical waterway, key terrain like the Panama Canal. You mentioned 40% of ships are U.S. ships, 75% are going to or from a port. So we were able to secure two historic agreements: one with the Panama Canal authority that our ships, our military vessels and our auxiliary vessels will travel first and free through that Panama Canal,\u201d Hegseth began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd then we also signed a memorandum of understanding with the defense secretary over there and the president that established a robust and growing U.S. presence, right? You need to secure that key terrain. So Fort Sherman will reopen jointly with the Panamanians a Jungle School, and we\u2019re going to have a larger U.S. presence at the invitation of Panama, working with them to keep the communist Chinese out. If we can\u2019t use that that waterway in a key contingency, then China has an advantage. Other presidents have allowed us \u2014 we\u2019ve been sort of asleep at the wheel. President Trump has said we need to be serious about our own backyard. That includes a place like the Panama Canal,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hegseth continued, \u201cAnd I want to thank President Molina, a pro-Trump, pro-America president of Panama, who\u2019s sticking his neck out against communists whose influence was real there, Maria, we could see it, you could feel it. The communist Chinese want to control politicians. They\u2019re building infrastructure projects. They want to surveil. They want to take that canal. President Trump says, not on our watch, and we\u2019re fighting back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Host Maria Bartiromo jumped in and asked, \u201cThat\u2019s unbelievable. When I spoke with President Trump in an interview last month, he said that all the signage around the canal was all in Chinese. When you\u2019re going into it, it\u2019s all Chinese signs, when you\u2019re coming out of it, it\u2019s all Chinese signs. That was one piece of color that indicates how dominant they\u2019ve been.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCorrect. They\u2019re building a tunnel underneath the canal they\u2019re paying for. What could that be used for? Surveillance of submarines, of ships? Bridges over the top. I flew by their cranes in that port, antennas all over them. What are those used to do? By now they\u2019re removing a lot of that signage, but removing signage is not enough. You\u2019ve got to remove the insidious influence,\u201d Hegseth said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd getting these agreements signed, it was a big with effort across our DOD with their leaders, but they know that by coming closer to the United States and allowing additional joint U.S. presence, that\u2019s pushing out nefarious, malicious Chinese influence. The Chinese didn\u2019t like what happened in Panama this week, not at all, because this is a return of U.S. leadership, peace through strength, and the course was charted by President Trump,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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