China will as always respect Panama's sovereignty over the Canal and recognize the Canal as a permanently neutral international waterway, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Friday, in response to a question about US president-elect Donald Trump's claim that there are Chinese soldiers stationed at the Panama Canal.

Global warming is making both places more important to global shipping and trade. To imagine the kind of future a hotter, dryer climate may bring, and the geopolitical challenges it will create, look no farther than two parts of the world that Donald Trump wants America to control: Greenland and the Panama Canal.

As for the Panama Canal, Mulino denied U.S. vessels are being overcharged to use the waterway and emphasized that China plays no role in the canal. A Hong Kong-based firm manages two ports at the Panama Canal’s entrances, but Panama owns and operates the entire canal.

For dozens of US tourists watching a cargo ship pass through the Panama Canal, Donald Trump's threat to possibly wrest back control of the waterway is nonsensical. None of those interviewed backed US President-elect Trump in his repeated threats that he could seize control of the canal after he returns to the White House next month.