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The Compass: Stories From The New Silk Road: The Americas: Stories from the New Silk Road: Panama

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Stories from the New Silk Road: Panama

09/11/2022 GMT

Stories From The New Silk Road: The Americas

BBC World Service - The Compass, Stories From The New Silk Road: The Americas, Stories from the New Silk Road: Panama

What impact has China’s Belt and Road initiative had on Panama five years on?

The Panama Canal is a great feat of engineering and a place of huge global significance for trade and shipping. An artificial waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, literally dividing North and South America, whilst saving thousands of miles of shipping time round Cape Horn at the very southern tip of South America.

The Americans built the canal and operated it for decades, but today there’s a new global superpower hoping to make their mark. In 2017, Panama became the first country in the region to sign up to China’s Belt and Road initiative, shortly after they had cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favour of Beijing.

Five years after signing up, what impact has the new Silk Road had on this small Central American nation with strong historical ties to the US? Travelling from one coast to the other, BBC South America correspondent Katy Watson aims to find out.

Presenter: Katy Watson
Producer: Peter Shevlin
A C60Media production for the BBC World Service

(Photo: Panama port. Credit: Peter Shevlin)

The Compass: Stories From The New Silk Road: The Americas

With new aspirations across the Americas, the majority of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have joined President Xi’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative. From Ecuador, Panama, Jamaica and Mexico, the BBC’s South America correspondent Katy Watson examines its impact on the region.

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