By Alek Buttermann The Panama Canal remains at the centre of geopolitical tension, as the United States increases pressure to counter China’s influence in the region, prompting sharp responses from both Beijing and Panama City.

Panama promotes itself “as the bridge of the world, heart of the universe” but lately the narrow Central American Isthmus and its namesake canal that joins the Atlantic to the Pacific have become the setting for a bitter clash between the world’s two preeminent economic superpowers.

Panama and the U.S. signed a new security pact on the canal, boosting defense ties as tensions with China over Latin American influence continue to rise.