The Panamanian government is resisting the whims of the head of the Pentagon to establish American bases there. Businessman Li Ka-shing and his conglomerate CK Hutchison, which manages the port terminals,

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.