The world's most arrogant small country, even the United States does not pay attention to it, China still gives it 10 billion a year?
Hello everyone, I'm your old friend Old Lee!
The small country I want to talk about today is Panama
Panama is located in the Isthmus of Panama in Central America, the south is the world's largest Pacific Ocean, the caribbean sea in the north, the golden country - Colombia in the east, and Costa Rica in the west, 772 kilometers long from north to south, and between 60 and 177 kilometers wide from east to west, just connecting North America and South America, the geographical location is extremely important, not only the financial center of Central America and the Caribbean region, but also a military strategic route.
Figure 1
In fact, few people know that Panama was once a province of Colombia.
At that time, the United States wanted to dig a canal in the Panama region of Colombia, but the United States wanted to take back the ownership of the canal after the canal was opened, that is, when the canal was excavated, everything about the canal could only be said by the Americans, everything had nothing to do with Colombia, such a request Colombia of course could not agree, and finally the United States came up with a way, that is, to make Panama independent, and then take back the ownership of the canal from Panama, for other countries, it may not be easy to be independent.
Figure 2
But at that time, just in time for colombia's civil unrest, and Panama also had a lot of dissatisfaction with Colombia, always felt that Colombia was not good enough for them, so the United States hit the iron while it was hot, directly found Panama, saying that it could provide various resources to help Panama independence, but as a condition, after Panama's independence, it was necessary to hand over the ownership of the Panama Canal to the United States, panama at that time was worried about not knowing how to be independent, at this time the United States intervened tantamount to sending charcoal in the snow, so it agreed to the request of the United States.
Figure 3
Until 1903, Panama declared independence, the United States also sent warships into Panamanian waters, and then the Americans got a high return as they wished, it is said that since 1920, for more than 60 years, the Americans have made a lot of dollars by collecting tolls, however, seeing that the United States has made a lot of money on its own turf, the Panamanian government is of course not convinced, so in order to abolish the unequal "America-Pakistan Treaty" and recover the sovereignty of the canal zone, the Panamanian people have waged an indomitable struggle for decades. Eventually succeeded in getting the U.S. troops to withdraw. Regain control of the Panama Canal.
Figure 4
Of course, in addition to Panama's own efforts, there is another reason that cannot be ignored, that is, why the United States is willing to delegate power. It should be known that the reason why the United States promised to return the Panama Canal was not out of good intentions, but to buy people's hearts during the Cold War, although the United States and Pakistan signed a restitution agreement, and the final ownership was given to Panama.
Figure 5
However, the United States has also set up many restrictions, such as in wartime, Panama must have privileges for the US military, and the right to operate the canal cannot be ceded to other major powers.
In this way, under the unequal restitution treaty, Panama finally obtained sovereignty over the Panama Canal. Now, we can clearly see from the map that ships in the Pacific and Atlantic must pass through the Panama Canal if they want to reach each other's ports, which is the only way for trade between countries, so Panama charges high tolls for cargo ships and ships leading here.
Figure 6
Don't look at the main funder of this canal is the United States, but now the United States has lost control of Panama, want to pass through here, or have to be the same as other countries, how much money to pay how much, the Republic of Panama's attitude of equal treatment is still remarkable, according to statistics, the number of ships entering and leaving here every year can be as many as 15,000, and the "toll" paid by the mainland every year is more than 10 billion yuan.
Figure 7
Some people may say that such a fee is too high, but there is a reason for it, you know, the Panama Canal is one of the two most strategic artificial waterways in the world, and ships that originally traveled between the east and west coasts of the United States had to bypass Cape Horn in South America, but if it was through the Panama Canal, the voyage could be shortened by about 15,000 kilometers.
Figure 8
In addition, from one side of the coast of North America to the other side of the South American port, through the Panama Canal can also save up to 6,500 kilometers between the two places, in addition to the Americas, ships sailing between Europe and East Asia or Australia can also shorten the voyage through the A panama canal at least 3,700 kilometers, so according to the cost of the distance saved, even if you pay tens of billions of tolls per year, it is more cost-effective than the detour.
Figure 9
Of course, with the development of China in recent years, the relationship between the two countries is not limited to the purchase and sale of tolls, China has always been a very important trading partner of Panama, in terms of economic exchanges, China mainly exports light industry and textiles, fuel oil, rubber and plastic shoes, computers and communication products to Pakistan, while Panama exports fishmeal, scrap metal, cement and leather and other products.
In addition to trade relations, there are nearly 500,000 Chinese living in Panama and a population of Chinese ancestry, accounting for 15% of the total population of the country, and these Chinese and Chinese descendants have made a lot of contributions to panama's economy, such as Panama's supermarkets are basically opened by Chinese.
Now Panama is joining China's "Belt and Road" initiative, which can not only improve its own country's infrastructure construction, but also establish broader trade relations with China.
The Panama Canal can also play the role of a conduit for transporting goods from the Americas to China, so this is beneficial and harmless to Panama. In fact, for Panama, it is very necessary to establish diplomatic relations with China and maintain friendly relations, because a few years ago, Chinese businessmen said that they would build a canal in Nicaragua to open the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and once this canal is built, it will soon replace the role of the Panama Canal.
Figure 11
Therefore, Panama must maintain more friendly relations with China, not to mention, it is said that Panama is the back garden of the United States, but the owner of the United States has not brought any practical benefits to Panama, but needs Panama to open the back door for the United States everywhere, so Panama is not stupid, and will definitely not hang on a tree in the United States.
Figure 12
Nowadays, Panama and China have established diplomatic relations, which makes the United States very panicked, because the United States once controlled these small countries in all directions, and now that there is more china, Latin American countries can weigh the pros and cons, and they will no longer obey the United States in the future, so the United States does not want to see someone break this balance, once a country succeeds, then China's influence will be greatly enhanced, which is by no means good news for the United States.
Figure 13
However, no matter what, no matter who China establishes diplomatic relations with, the United States is not qualified to manage, whether the United States can accept it or not, it cannot be stopped!
What do you think? I'm old Lee, we'll see you next time!