The story goes that the May 1 establishment of diplomatic relations between the Dominican Republic and China was long in the making, but delayed because the D.R. put up too many conditions. As a result, Panama ended up beating it to the finish line, becoming in June 2017 the first country in the region in several years to add an embassy to the already large Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) contingent of missions in Beijing.
The irony, of course, is that despite not setting any conditions, Panama, after breaking with Taiwan, has already benefitted considerably from its new ties with the People's Republic of China (PRC).
In 11 months, Panama has made more progress with China than Costa Rica made in 11 years of bilateral relations, or Colombia made in 38 years of diplomatic relations, said on Twitter the London School of Economics and Political Science's Álvaro Méndez, co-author of the recent book The China-Latin America Axis.
What's clear is that in this short period Panama has gained much. There is a lesson there, for those who want to see it.
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