The Chinese Embassy in Panama on Tuesday announced that a delegation from the Panama-China Parliamentary Friendship Group of the National Assembly of Panama has started a visit to China that includes stops in Beijing, Guangzhou, Tianjin and other cities and meetings with officials from the National People's Congress, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, and other Chinese institutions.

According to the embassy's post, the delegation will visit the Canton Fair, the Port of Tianjin, businesses, and local communities to learn about China's political, economic, and social development. They will also hold discussions with the China on topics such as parliamentary exchanges and local cooperation.

The delegation, led by Panamanian Representative Patsy Lee, visited Huawei in South China's Guangdong Province on Tuesday, according to Lee's official WeChat account. Chinese experts said that this visit, coming after tension arose between China and Panama due to a Panamanian court ruling on CK Hutchison ports, could pave the way for subsequent cooperation.

Lee disclosed the delegation's one-day schedule via Instagram Stories earlier on Tuesday. The delegation was staying in Shenzhen and Dongguan on Tuesday, with activities mainly focused on Huawei.

Xu Xueyuan, China's ambassador to Panama, retweeted the embassy's tweet from earlier that day with a message saying, "This visit will contribute to promoting mutual understanding, the exchange of experiences, and possible future cooperation."

Affected by Panama's ruling against CK Hutchison, which once strained bilateral relations, Panama's dispatch of a delegation to China is a signal of its intent to further improve the current China-Panama situation, a Chinese expert said.

Panama's Supreme Court in January annulled the contract granted to Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison to operate the Panama terminals, the Xinhua News Agency reported on February 4, citing media reports.

This visit could be Panama's potential shift to taking substantive actions to ease bilateral relations, Guo Cunhai, director of the Department of Social and Cultural Studies at the Latin American Studies Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday, adding that the visit could pave the way for future bilateral relations and cooperation.

Sun Yanfeng, director of Latin American research at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said the cities and itinerary chosen also serve to promote bilateral trade.

Panama hopes to leverage its participation in the Canton Fair to export more of its competitive products to China, expand its outbound shipments to the Chinese market, and consolidate its position as a trading hub in the Western Hemisphere, Sun told the Global Times.

The visit by the deputies to China includes meetings with authorities and tours of infrastructure and social development projects, aiming to explore experiences that can be applied in Panama, Panama's newspaper La Estrella de Panamá reported on Sunday.

Observers noted that the considerations behind the stops in Tianjin and Guangzhou are linked to Panama's desire to build modern ports. The city of Guangzhou has accumulated extensive experience in modern port management and operations, and the visit is intended to facilitate the exchange of port management technologies, Guo said.

Since Panama attaches such importance to the development of its own ports, it should not use ports as a bargaining chip to contain China's development on behalf of Western countries, including the US, and recognize it has become a renowned trade hub in Latin America by virtue of an open and equitable market environment and diversified diplomacy, Sun said.

Jairo Salazar, a member of the delegation, also said in an Instagram post on Monday that Panama is a free and sovereign nation, not a vassal of the US nor any other country in the world.

Some members of Congress have clearly sent out signals of pursuing independence and autonomy, and such voices deserve to be further strengthened, Sun said.