Chinese and Hong Kong businesses’ control of important infrastructure on the Panama Canal and other port facilities in the Western Hemisphere has prompted calls for Washington to take measures to lessen Beijing’s influence.
According to a report by Radio Free Asia (RFA), Beijing has “a strategic position over one of the world’s most important waterways,” referring to the Panama Canal, Chairman Carlos Jimenez of the US House of Representatives Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security warned during a recent hearing.
He said this allows the Chinese Communist Party “to exert influence over commercial shipping, gather intelligence on American and Allied vessel traffic, and potentially restrict the mobility of our Navy in a time of crisis”, RFA reported.
Experts told the panel that China owns or operates over half of the major container ports outside of China as cited by RFA.
RFA report highlighted that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently threatened Panamanian leader Jose Raul Mulino with possible American retaliation if his country does not immediately reduce Chinese influence over the canal. The government of Panama recently announced an audit of ports owned by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s CK Hutchison conglomerate.
“While Panama has recently announced an audit of Hutchinson ports, that’s simply not enough,” Jimenez told the hearing. “We don’t need an audit. We need action,” Rubio said, as quoted by RFA.
“The United States cannot and will not accept the scenario where a foreign adversary, one that openly seeks to undermine our global standing, controls infrastructure critical to us, homeland security, military readiness and economic stability,” he said “U.S. allies should distance themselves from China, including from Chinese state-owned enterprises,” he stated.
Meanwhile, former CIA analyst Matthew Kroenig warned that China’s port investments, including those in Peru and Panama, “pose several threats to US homeland security.”
“China could restrict or block access to ports, threatening American trade and economic wellbeing,” Kroenig testified. “In the event of a crisis or war, China could hinder the passage of American naval vessels, undermining American war plans” Kroenig said as quoted by RFA in a report.