Panamanian officials are heading to Beijing in a bid to end a dispute that has seen hundreds of vessels leave its shipping registry after a major step-up in detentions by Chinese authorities.
巴拿马官员正前往北京，试图化解一场争端。此前由于中国当局大幅增加对巴拿马籍船舶的扣留，已有数百艘船只退出巴拿马船籍。
The clash escalated in February when the Central American country, under heavy US pressure to crack down on China’s presence in the Panama Canal, took control of two ports run by Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison after its Supreme Court invalidated the company’s concessions.
这场冲突在今年2月升级。当时美国施以重压，要求这个中美洲国家削弱中国在巴拿马运河的影响力，该国最高法院裁定总部位于香港的长江和记实业(CK Hutchison)所获特许经营权无效，巴拿马随后接管了该公司运营的两座港口。
China then dramatically increased detentions of vessels flagged to Panama, which has the world’s largest ship registry. Beijing stopped four times more Panama-flagged ships in the four months to the end of June than in the year before, according to China Maritime Safety Administration data. China says the detentions are related to safety issues.
此后，中国显著增加了对巴拿马籍船舶的扣留数量。巴拿马是全球最大的船舶注册国。中国海事局(China Maritime Safety Administration)的数据显示，截至6月底的四个月里，中国扣留的巴拿马籍船舶数量是上年同期的四倍。中方表示，这些扣留均与安全问题相关。