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The Panama Canal may well be a neutral passageway, but at the end of the day passage through it is dependent on American goodwill. So, why not build your own canal up the road in Nicaragua? After all, what's $50 billion to a growing superpower? The Nicaragua Grand Canal project is funded by a Hong Kong businessman named Wang Jing who has made a lot of money in telecommunications but has no experience of engineering, let alone masterminding one of the most ambitious construction projects in the history of the world. Mr Wang is adamant that the Chinese government is not involved in the project. Given the nature of China's business culture and the participation of its government in all aspects of life, this is unusual.