Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

Wang Xuguang watches the same scene every day: Cargo ships fully laden with containers travel along the Panama Canal one by one all the way to the sea port of Colón, Panama, the outlet to the Atlantic Ocean.

"We have to peg 628 such high piles. And in two years a new dock will be built here for more Chinese cargo ships to handle goods," he pointed to a stack of steel tubes approximately 1 meter in diameter and 20 to 30 meters in length.

Wang, a project manager from China Harbor Engineering Company Ltd (CHEC), told me that the project they undertake is the fourth dock where the Taiwan-based Evergreen Marine Corp is located.

A Panamanian joked that if Latin America is the "backyard" of the US, then the dock will be the "front door."

Nine years ago, after Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, a Hong Kong-based shipping company, invested in an expansion project in this port, some US politicians and media outlets asked Washington to be cautious by claiming that Chinese businessman eyed Canal control and threatened US shipping.

But now, when CHEC took the project after winning an international bidding, no US media outlet has demonstrated a particular interest in it. Chinese presence in this region is seen as ordinary.

While some US scholars keep stressing there might be a possibility of "physical collision" between Beijing and Washington in the West Pacific, I am witnessing their closer ties in marine transportation along the Panama Canal by the East Pacific.

In 2013, nearly 600 ships of COSCO Container Lines Co, Ltd (COSCON) and China Shipping Company passed through the Panama Canal. And 425 ships among them are from COSCON, an increase of 55 percent on 2007.

Meanwhile, China's trade by transportation volume with the eastern part of the US and Latin America saw an annual rise of more than 20 percent. According to statistics issued by Panama Canal Authority, shipment from or to China accounted for 27.8 percent of aggregate cargo quantity in 2012.

The route linking China to the eastern part of the US has become one of the main lanes for ships traveling through the Panama Canal, seeing 22.3 percent of shipping. Washington has become a major beneficiary of China's presence on the Panama Canal.

The expansion project, costing $5.3 billion currently under construction will make the Panama Canal more adapted to the need of connecting the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans. Once finished, the project will greatly reduce the cost of commodity transportation between China and the eastern coast of the US and by then Chinese and Americans can purchase each other's commodities at a much cheaper price.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the breakout of WWI. Some Western scholars are chattering endlessly that history has taught us that today's globalization as well as economic and trading cooperation cannot stop warfare and conflict.

Nevertheless, what I saw at the Panama Canal showed clearly that there are some fundamental changes in the trading system between the present world and the old era, the most significant of which lies in the remarkable importance of win-win progress and mutual benefit.

Such a trading system also prompts people to learn to restrain themselves and resolve disputes through negotiations and tackle the frictions of an emerging country with the rest of the world.

Trade can in no way change Beijing into Washington, but can link two nations more closely to forge a common destiny. Trade will also help the US and the West recognize that the world is able to accommodate a nation entirely different from them and that the development of such a country can encourage them to pursue greater development themselves.

The author is a senior editor with People's Daily. He is now stationed in Brazil. dinggang@globaltimes.com.cn. Follow him on Twitter at @dinggangchina