There was talk of a high-speed rail line that China would build in Panama. A new subway line in Panama City. A modern container port.

曾有说法称中国将在巴拿马修建一条高铁，在巴拿马城修建一条新地铁线，以及建设一个现代化的集装箱港口。

China has been working to build ties and influence in Panama for years, part of its broader ambition to expand its footprint in Latin America. The effort has had some successes, but also plenty of setbacks.

为了在巴拿马建立关系和影响力，中国已经努力了多年，这是它扩大在拉丁美洲影响力的更广泛野心的一部分。这个努力取得了一些成功，但也遭到了不少挫折。

In 2017, China scored a major victory when Panama cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims as its territory, and recognized Beijing instead. Panama had been one of the few countries worldwide to recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state.

2017年，巴拿马断绝了与台湾的关系，转为承认北京，这是中国取得的重大外交胜利。中国声称对自治的台湾拥有主权，全世界只有为数不多的国家承认台湾是主权国家，巴拿马曾是其中之一。

The following year, Panama became the first Latin American country to sign onto the Belt and Road Initiative, the Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s signature global infrastructure program, which is aimed at enlarging China’s geopolitical heft and countering American influence.

次年，巴拿马成了第一个与中国签署“一带一路”合作协议的拉丁美洲国家。“一带一路”是中国领导人习近平标志性的全球基础设施计划，旨在扩大中国的地缘政治影响力，对抗美国的影响力。

Promises

承诺

A flurry of ambitious promises followed. China proposed to build a 250-mile high-speed rail line from Panama City, the capital, toward the western border with Costa Rica. It offered to help build a new subway line in Panama City. A consortium of Chinese companies, led by the conglomerate Landbridge, began developing a container port that was promised to be Panama’s most modern one.

中国在合作协议中做出了一系列雄心勃勃的承诺，提出的项目包括修建一条从首都巴拿马城通往哥斯达黎加西部边境的400公里长的高铁，以及帮助在巴拿马城修建一条新地铁线。由岚桥集团牵头的中国公司联营体开始在巴拿马开发一个集装箱港口，并承诺让其成为巴拿马最现代化的港口。

A Chinese state-owned company also won a $1.4 billion contract to build a fourth bridge over the Panama Canal. Eventually, the two countries said they would negotiate a free-trade agreement.

中国的一家国有企业还赢得了在巴拿马运河上修建第四座大桥的合同，合同造价为14亿美元。两国最终表示将就一项自由贸易协定展开谈判。

习近平与巴拿马当时的总统胡安·卡洛斯·巴雷拉2018年在巴拿马城举行了会晤。习近平是首位访问巴拿马的中国领导人，巴拿马已在2017年与台湾断交。

Beijing made clear that it wanted to solidify its support in Panama City. In early 2018, a visiting Chinese official told then-President Juan Carlos Varela that “the establishment of diplomatic relations with Panama was the most important diplomatic achievement for China during 2017,” according to a Panamanian government news release. Later that year, Mr. Xi became the first Chinese leader to visit.

中国政府曾明确表示要巩固其在巴拿马政府获得的支持。据巴拿马政府发布的新闻稿，2018年初，一名到访的中国官员对当时的总统胡安·卡洛斯·巴雷拉说，“与巴拿马建立外交关系是中国2017年取得的最重要的外交成就。”当年晚些时候，习近平成了首位访问巴拿马的中国领导人。

China also stepped up its soft-power efforts, opening a Confucius Institute to promote Chinese culture and language, and donating health care supplies during the Covid pandemic.

中国还加强了软实力方面的举措，在巴拿马开办了一所推广中国语言文化的孔子学院，并在新冠病毒大流行期间向该国捐赠了医疗用品。

Setbacks

挫折

But as China’s influence grew, so did wariness among Panamanians, as well as pressure from the United States for Panama to distance itself from Beijing. After Mr. Varela left office, his successor, Laurentino Cortizo, suspended the proposed railway project. The trade negotiations have stalled.

但随着中国影响力的增长，巴拿马人的警惕性也有所增加，同时增加的还有美国要求巴拿马与中国政府保持距离的压力。巴雷拉卸任后，他的继任者劳伦蒂诺·科尔蒂佐暂停了拟议中的铁路项目。自由贸易协定的谈判也遭到搁置。

The Panamanian government revoked Landbridge’s rights to the container port project in 2021, after an audit found that the company had violated the terms of its contract, investing less money and employing less local labor than had been promised.

2021年，巴拿马政府撤销了岚桥集团承租、开发及经营上述集装箱港口的特许权，此前一项审计发现，岚桥集团违反了合同条款，其投资金额和雇用的当地劳动力都低于合同中承诺的数字。

Still, China has also had some successes. The new Panamanian president, José Raúl Mulino, has revived the idea of the railway, and Chinese diplomats and companies have made clear that they want to participate. Construction has resumed on the fourth bridge over the Panama Canal, after a pause.

尽管如此，中国也取得了一些成功。新任巴拿马总统何塞·劳尔·穆利诺已重新提出修建铁路的想法，中国的外交官和公司也明确表示他们想参与其中。巴拿马运河上第四座大桥的建设工作在暂停后已重新开始。

巴雷拉2019年出席运河上第四座大桥项目开工的奠基仪式。

In 2021, the Hong Kong company CK Hutchinson won a 25-year extension of its control over two ports at the canal’s entrances.

2021年，香港公司长江和记实业赢得了对巴拿马运河两端的两个港口控制权延长25年的合同。

CK Hutchison is a publicly listed conglomerate whose largest owner is a family of Hong Kong billionaires. It is not a Chinese state-owned company. But Beijing has tightened its control over Hong Kong in recent years, and it has the power to compel private companies to comply with its demands in the name of national security.

长江和记实业是一家上市公司，其最大的股东是香港的一个亿万富翁家族。这家公司不是中国国有企业。但近年来，中国政府已加强了对香港的控制，并有权以国家安全的名义强迫私营企业按照其要求行事。

Panama has been the focus of special attention from China, because of the canal and its previous ties to Taiwan, but China has also been working to expand its influence in Latin America more broadly. It has positioned itself as an alternative to the United States in global leadership, casting itself as a fellow developing country more attuned to such nations’ needs.

虽然由于运河以及曾经与台湾的外交关系，巴拿马一直是中国特别关注的焦点，但中国也一直在努力扩大本国在拉丁美洲的影响力。中国已将自己定位为美国在全球领导地位的替代者，并称自己同为发展中国家，因此更熟悉发展中国家的需求。

Beijing has also invested heavily in Peru, where it opened a new Chinese-funded port in a city 40 miles north of Lima in November. China is South America’s top trading partner and the second-biggest, after the United States, for Latin America as a whole.

中国还在秘鲁进行大笔投资，去年11月在利马以北60多公里的城市开始建设了一个由中国出资的新港口。中国是南美洲最大的贸易伙伴，也是拉丁美洲仅次于美国的第二大贸易伙伴。

Going Forward

未来

In response to accusations from President-elect Donald J. Trump, Chinese officials have denied having any interest in infringing on Panama’s sovereignty or bending it to its own interests against Washington. They have said that China would always respect the canal as a permanently neutral international waterway.

针对候任总统特朗普的指控，中国官员否认有意侵犯巴拿马的主权，或将其变成与华盛顿对抗、为中国利益服务的地方。他们表示，中国一直承认巴拿马运河作为永久中立的国际通行水道。

Chinese scholars have denounced American concerns about Beijing’s growing presence in Latin America as smear campaigns.

中国学者谴责美国对中国在拉丁美洲影响力日益扩大的担忧是恶意攻击。

Zhou Bo, a retired colonel in the People’s Liberation Army of China who is now a senior fellow at the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said Mr. Trump’s recent remarks about a Chinese military presence in Panama were so absurd as to “not deserve a specific reply” from Beijing.

中国人民解放军退役大校周波现在是北京清华大学战略与安全研究中心的高级研究员，他说，特朗普最近有关中国军队在巴拿马出现的言论如此之荒谬，以至于“不值得（中国）做出具体回应”。

“China has many investments around the world. They’re not limited by region, or whether it’s supposedly ‘America’s backyard,’” he said.

“中国在世界各地有很多投资。中国投资没有地区的限制，也不受是否是所谓的‘美国后院’的限制，”他说。

Cui Shoujun, director of the Research Center for Latin American Studies at Renmin University in Beijing, expressed confidence that China’s relations with Panama would keep growing, despite American efforts to stymie them.

北京的中国人民大学拉丁美洲研究中心主任崔守军对中国与巴拿马的关系将继续发展充满信心，尽管美国在极力阻挠。

Mr. Trump might even push Panama closer to Beijing, he added. “You have an extremely domineering American president, and a pragmatic Chinese partner,” he said. Faced with that choice, he said, “the answer is self-evident.”

他还表示，特朗普甚至可能把巴拿马推向中国。“有一个极其霸道的美国总统和一个务实的中国伙伴，”他说面对这种选择，“答案是不言而喻的”。