Use of force in Panama, Greenland will impact US more than China

Analysts cite damage to Western values, international ties after Trump's threats

- Yew Lun Tian

The use of force by the US to gain control of the Panama Canal and Greenland will hurt American interests more than it will hurt Chinese ones, analysts say.

US President-elect Donald Trump said at a press conference on Jan 7 that he wants to acquire the Panama Canal, which falls under the sovereignty of Panama in Central America, and the Arctic island Greenland, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark.

He said Greenland was vital to US national security and the Panama Canal - which he claimed, falsely, was operated by China - was crucial to America's economic security.

Trump added at the press conference that he does not rule out using force to take back the Panama Canal, which the US had controlled until 1999, and Greenland, which was occupied by the US during World War II.

Both places are strategically important to China as they provide access to shipping lanes for global trade and for their mineral resources.

Analysts scoffed at the idea that Trump would use military might to gain control of the canal and the world's largest island.

"The chances of the US using force in either Greenland or Panama is zero," Dr Scott Kennedy of US think-tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies told The Straits Times.

"That's just noise and an expression of US interest in those two areas, with regard to access to minerals, shipping routes and concerns about resiliency - normal concerns expressed in a very abnormal way."

Many Chinese analysts ST spoke to expect Trump to be fully prepared to climb down from the threat of using force.