Panama marks ties with China
Nation is Latin America’s first to sign up to the Belt and Road Initiative
In 1854, a ship carrying Chinese workers, many from South China’s Guangdong province, landed in Panama to work on the country’s railway construction.
Their journey kicked off more than 160 years of exchange between the peoples of China and Panama, culminating in the signing of a joint communique on June 13, 2017, which established diplomatic relations between the two countries.
To celebrate the one-year anniversary of the bilateral link, the Guangzhou People’s Government and China Daily invited more than 2,000 people to the local Chinese Cultural Center on Thursday for a special “storytelling event”.
Through the stories, traditional folk dances and jump rope performances by students, the event was aimed at creating a platform to enhance cultural exchange and educational opportunities, further testifying to the mutual interest in collaboration between China and Panama.
More than 300,000 people of Chinese descent, or 10 percent of the total population, currently live in Panama, according to the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, but the Central American country’s connection with China goes back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
The current director of the Society of International Studies Panama said he was finally able to connect with his paternal relatives following the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Panama.
But when it comes to the struggle of Chinese-Panamanians, no one understands it better than Liu Yanglie, a business owner originally from Huadu, a district in Guangzhou’s northern suburbs.
“In the 1980s, I just came to Panama; I was so poor, but I was very fortunate to work at the food wholesale company of my brother Liu Wenhui, who had been living and working in Panama,” said Liu.
Later, Liu accumulated experience and learned Spanish. He started his own beef store in 1985 and opened a Chinese restaurant in 1989.
It’s estimated that around 80 percent of the Chinese residents in Panama hail from Huadu, where some villages are nicknamed “Panama Village” due to the high number of locals who have migrated to Panama.
Although China and Panama have enjoyed a special bond due to the immigration history, the two countries also have collaborated closely in the economic realm in recent history.
China is the second-largest client of the Panama Canal after the United States. A number of Chinese companies, including Huawei, also have established their branches in Panama, known as the “hub of the Americas”.
On July 29, a group made up of China Communications Construction Co Ltd and China Harbour Engineering Co Ltd won a $1.42 billion contract to build the fourth bridge over the Panama Canal, according to Reuters.
Economic collaboration
Many people expect more economic collaboration to follow after the forming of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
“China and related countries are building an international platform of collaboration through the One Belt One Road initiative,” said Jiang Jianguo, deputy head of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China and a keynote speaker at Thursday’s event.
He said Latin America is the “indispensable participant” in the development of the Belt and Road Initiative, and Panama is the Maritime Silk Road’s “natural extension” into the region.
Panama became the first Latin American country to sign up for the initiative, followed by Antigua, Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago, and Bolivia.
The initiative is a great opportunity for economic enhancement and societal progress for Panama, said Leonardo Enrique Collado Trejos, an economist and professor from the University of Panama’s Regional Center in Azuero.
“The building of diplomatic ties between China and Panama would further enhance the logistics economy of Panama,” he said. “China is a golden opportunity in Panama’s diplomatic history.”