Rapid Fire
Panama Canal
- 12 Apr 2025
- 2 min read
The US and Panama have formalised a new defense and security pact aimed at countering China’s expanding influence over the Panama Canal.
- China operates two major ports at the Panama Canal, raising US concerns about Chinese influence on global shipping, though Panama denies any Chinese control.
- Panama Canal: The Canal was originally constructed (1914) and controlled by the US.
- In 1979, control of the Canal was transferred to the Panama Canal Commission, a joint agency of the US and Panama, and eventually, in 1999, full control was handed over to Panama.
- Strategic Importance: It is one of the two most strategically significant artificial waterways in the world, the other being the Suez Canal.
- It connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the narrow Isthmus of Panama, significantly reducing the distance between the US east and west coasts by about 8,000 nautical miles.
- Operation/Functioning: It uses a system of locks and water elevators to transport ships from one ocean to the other.
- This design is necessary as the Pacific Ocean is slightly higher (~20 cm) in elevation than the Atlantic Ocean.
- The locks operate by flooding (to raise elevation) or draining (to lower elevation) and act as water elevators to lift or lower vessels.
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