China Lashes Out at US ‘Coercion’ after Panama Declines to Renew Infrastructure Agreement

 An aerial view shows cargo vessels after transiting through the Panama Canal, in Colon, Panama, February 1, 2025. (Reuters)
An aerial view shows cargo vessels after transiting through the Panama Canal, in Colon, Panama, February 1, 2025. (Reuters)
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China Lashes Out at US ‘Coercion’ after Panama Declines to Renew Infrastructure Agreement

 An aerial view shows cargo vessels after transiting through the Panama Canal, in Colon, Panama, February 1, 2025. (Reuters)
An aerial view shows cargo vessels after transiting through the Panama Canal, in Colon, Panama, February 1, 2025. (Reuters)

China on Friday lashed out at what it called US “coercion” after Panama declined to renew a key infrastructure agreement with Beijing following Washington’s threat to take back the Panama Canal.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a briefing that China “firmly opposes the US smearing and undermining the Belt and Road cooperation through means of pressure and coercion.”

Assistant Foreign Minister Zhao Zhiyuan also met Panama’s ambassador to China and lodged solemn representations on Friday, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

The Belt and Road Initiative is President Xi Jinping’s signature foreign police drive to bind China closer to countries in the region and beyond by building roads, railways, airports, power plants and other infrastructure. The program has completed some major projects but also raised concerns about debt and environmental impact.

Panama’s decision to walk away from it was seen as a concession to the US over the canal after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Panamanian leader José Raúl Mulino on Sunday that Panama must immediately reduce what President Donald Trump says is Chinese influence over the canal area or face potential retaliation from the United States.

Mulino has rejected pressure from the new US government to discuss ownership of a waterway that is vital to global trade.

Despite that, some believe Panama may be open to a compromise under which canal operations on both sides are taken away from the Hong Kong-based Hutchison Ports company, which was given a 25-year no-bid extension to run them. An audit into the suitability of that extension is already underway and could lead to a rebidding process.

A drop in water levels in the canal due to drought has slowed transit through the canal, raising further complaints from Trump, although the delays appear to have nothing to do with China.

Lin said the Belt and Road Initiative has brought “active participation” from over 150 countries and that it has brought “fruitful results” to Panama and China, but gave no examples.

“We hope Panama will bear in mind the general picture of bilateral relationship and the long-term interests of both peoples, resist external interference, and make the right decision,” Lin said.



US Targets Chinese Companies over Drone Components Used by Hamas, Houthis

A Houthi fighter wears a machine gun bullet belt during a rally marking the second anniversary of the 07 October attacks carried by Hamas against Israel, in Sanaa, Yemen, 07 October 2025. (EPA)
A Houthi fighter wears a machine gun bullet belt during a rally marking the second anniversary of the 07 October attacks carried by Hamas against Israel, in Sanaa, Yemen, 07 October 2025. (EPA)
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US Targets Chinese Companies over Drone Components Used by Hamas, Houthis

A Houthi fighter wears a machine gun bullet belt during a rally marking the second anniversary of the 07 October attacks carried by Hamas against Israel, in Sanaa, Yemen, 07 October 2025. (EPA)
A Houthi fighter wears a machine gun bullet belt during a rally marking the second anniversary of the 07 October attacks carried by Hamas against Israel, in Sanaa, Yemen, 07 October 2025. (EPA)

The United States said on Wednesday it was adding 15 Chinese companies to its restricted trade list for facilitating the purchase of American electronic components found in drones operated by Iranian proxies including Houthi and Hamas militants.

Ten companies in China were designated for the Commerce Department's so-called Entity List, for facilitating the purchase of components found in weaponized unmanned aircraft systems operated by proxies including Yemen's Houthi militants, according to a post in the Federal Register.

Five additional Chinese companies were listed after information that around October 7, 2023, Israel forces recovered numerous weaponized unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs) operated by Iranian proxies including Hamas, the post said.

Hamas-led fighters staged an attack in Israel that day that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and triggered the war in Gaza.

In all, the Commerce Department is adding 29 entities to the list, including companies based in Türkiye and United Arab Emirates.

Among those, the US added another Chinese company to the list for being part of an illicit network that obtains and supplies UAV and other components to front companies of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force (IRGC-QF).

Companies are added to the Commerce Department’s Entity List for activities deemed contrary to US national security and foreign policy interests. Licenses are required to export to companies on the list and are likely to be denied.


French-German National Monterlos Back in France After Release by Iran, France Says

France's Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot looks on during a meeting with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki (not seen) at the Headquarters of the Africa Union (AU) in Addis Ababa on November 29, 2024. (AFP)
France's Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot looks on during a meeting with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki (not seen) at the Headquarters of the Africa Union (AU) in Addis Ababa on November 29, 2024. (AFP)
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French-German National Monterlos Back in France After Release by Iran, France Says

France's Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot looks on during a meeting with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki (not seen) at the Headquarters of the Africa Union (AU) in Addis Ababa on November 29, 2024. (AFP)
France's Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot looks on during a meeting with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki (not seen) at the Headquarters of the Africa Union (AU) in Addis Ababa on November 29, 2024. (AFP)

French-German national Lennart Monterlos has been released from detention in Iran and is back in France, outgoing French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Wednesday.

Iran had been holding the 18-year-old cyclist after arresting him in June on espionage charges. Monterlos was acquitted on Monday, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

"Lennart Monterlos is free!" Barrot wrote in a post on the social media X.

Both Barrot and President Emmanuel Macron reiterated demands that Iran release French nationals Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who have been held in the country since 2022.

On Monday, the two countries said talks for the release of all three prisoners were progressing.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi suggested in mid-September the French nationals could be exchanged for Mahdieh Esfandiari, an Iranian student living in the French city of Lyon who was arrested this year over anti-Israel social media posts.


Putin Visits Tajikistan for Meetings with Other Ex-Soviet Leaders

 Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense and the General Staff, commanders of troop groups in the special military operation zone in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense and the General Staff, commanders of troop groups in the special military operation zone in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
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Putin Visits Tajikistan for Meetings with Other Ex-Soviet Leaders

 Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense and the General Staff, commanders of troop groups in the special military operation zone in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense and the General Staff, commanders of troop groups in the special military operation zone in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin began a state visit Wednesday to Tajikistan, a three-day trip that includes a series of meetings with leaders of other nations that once were part of the Soviet Union.

Trade and other ties with Tajikistan and other countries in Central Asia are increasingly important for Russia amid sweeping Western sanctions over its military action in Ukraine.

Putin is set to have talks with Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rakhmon, followed by a Russia-Central Asia summit involving leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. On Friday, they will be joined by leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus for a broader meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose alliance of other former Soviet nations.

Rakhmon, in power for nearly 33 years, is the longest-serving of all ex-Soviet leaders. The 73-year-old former collective farm head came to power in 1992 following a devastating civil war that engulfed the country after the demise of the USSR. He crushed or cowed all opposition to his rule soon after coming to power, and he later pushed constitutional changes that allow him to rule for life.

Putin turned 73 on Tuesday, but has only been in power in Russia for a quarter century.

Russia has maintained a military base in Tajikistan, which shares a porous 1,300-kilometer (810-mile) border with Afghanistan.

Tajikistan is a member of the International Criminal Court that in 2023 issued a warrant for Putin for alleged war crimes stemming from Moscow’s actions in Ukraine, but he faces no risk of arrest in the country that relies on close political, economic and military ties with Russia. The ICC has no police force and relies on members to assist in arrests.