China has been squeezed pretty hard in the past year. Let’s take a look at all that’s happened. China had major operational influence over the key ports at both ends of the Panama Canal through a Hong Kong based company (CK Hutchison). Trump put heavy pressure on Panama from day one of his second term, and their Supreme Court ended up canceling those contracts effectively booting the Chinese linked presence out Then the U.S. supported operations that removed Maduro from power in Venezuela (January 2026 military action), and is now redirecting the country’s massive oil resources away from China (their biggest buyer) and Russian influence, bringing it back under American-aligned control. This will even fit Venezuela greatly as It’s important to rememebr they had previously lost it to RU/China. On Iran, after earlier strikes that wrecked their capabilities and the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports kicking in, Trump says they’re on the verge of handing over their stockpile of enriched uranium as part of ongoing negotiations. Their air force and navy are basically non-factors at this point but don’t forget, Iran is still “winning!” And they likely have been set back years, or decades in some cases of equipment. They also just locked in a major new defense cooperation deal with Indonesia that gives U.S. military aircraft expanded access to airspace right over the Malacca Strait a critical chokepoint for China’s oil imports. On top of that, huge partnership and investment wins with the UAE (hundreds of billions in deals, AI/tech collaboration) and strengthened strategic ties with the Philippines. When you lay it all out. Panama Canal ports, Venezuelan oil, Hormuz/Iran blockade, Malacca Strait access, plus Gulf and Southeast Asia alliances how does this not look like a pretty coordinated strategy to squeeze China’s key energy and trade vulnerabilities? People were pretty quick to react and looked at a lot of events as individual events that really all tied in together.(🐧)