Panama has complained to the United Nations over US President Donald Trump's "worrying" threat to seize the Panama Canal, even as it launched an audit of the Hong Kong-linked operator of two ports on the interoceanic waterway.

Panama has complained to the UN over US President Donald Trump’s “worrying” threat to seize the Panama Canal, even as it launched an audit of the Hong Kong-linked operator of two ports on the interoceanic waterway.

Panama’s government and President José Raúl Mulino have repeatedly denied that there is any Chinese presence at the canal.

Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino has denied that any other nation was interfering in the canal, which he said was operated on a principle of neutrality. "The canal is and will remain Panama's," Mulino said in response to Trump's threats.

Panama sent a team of auditors on Monday to the local offices of Panama Ports, a subsidiary of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s CK Hutchison Holdings.