They can with temporary guest workers, like they do in SK and Japan.
Some history:
During the Carter administration, the US made an agreement with Panama to hand it over in the year 2000. Before the handover, Panama gave a contract to a HK based ChiCom controlled company to oversee operations of the canal. Leading up to the transfer, there was a media blackout/coverup with the Y2K hype. Today, there are some Chinese military assets in Panama. They took over our military base that we had there.