NEWS

Does China really have control over the Panama Canal as Donald Trump claims?

The president of the United States, Donald Trump, promised at his inauguration regain control of the Panama Canalwhich was flatly rejected by the Panamanian government. Trump has not even ruled out military force to “recover” this 80 km route that, built by the United States and inaugurated in 1914, has been administered by Panama for 25 years. At the center of the controversy is China.

“China is operating the Panama Canal… and we are going to take it back,” Trump said Monday. Having said it in the investiture speech “makes it more likely that it is a serious attempt, although it still seems implausible”Benjamin Gedan, director of the Latin America program at the Washington-based Wilson Center, told AFP.

President of Panama, José Raul Mulino

President of Panama, José Raul Mulino, assured that the control of the Cnala of Panama is not under any country. | Photo: Anadolu via Getty Images

In the eye of the hurricane, the Chinese company Hutchison Ports, based in Hong Kong, has operated under concession since 1997 the ports of Balboa and Cristóbal, at each entrance of the canal, which connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

In a “moment of conflict” those ports could be used by Beijing “as a bottleneck that prevents international trade” through the canalwarned the head of US diplomacy, Marco Rubio, shortly before taking office.

The route, of which the United States and China are its largest users, is administered by the Panama Canal Authority (autonomous entity). “There is no presence of any nation in the world that interferes”Mulino stated. The subsidiary of Hutchison Ports, which the Panamanian comptroller’s office opened an audit on Monday, does not manage or make decisions about the road.

For Rebecca Bill Chávez, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, based in Washington, “China does not operate or control the canal” and Panama has “respected” the neutrality of the route and maintained “the efficiency of operations.”

Trump had already said in 2011 that the United States “stupidly” handed over the channel “in exchange for nothing.” This time he also complains about The fees that American ships pay to cross the waterway are a “complete scam”he said.

Still, since Panama broke with Taiwan and established relations with Beijing in 2017, Chinese activity has grown in the country, although the main political and commercial partner continues to be the United States.

In less than seven years, Chinese companies opened subsidiaries, built a cruise port for $206 million at the entrance to the Pacific canal, and are currently building a bridge over the interoceanic route for $1.4 billion.

Xi Jinping - Carbon emissions

The president of China, Xi Jinping, has explained his country’s influence on the Panama Canal. | Photo: Getty Images

In 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Panama. China proposed other million-dollar projects, even trying to install its embassy at the entrance to the canal, but it did not come to fruition due to alleged pressure from Washington.

Trump “believes he needs to be tough on China,” so if “there is an opportunity to counteract Chinese influence” in the region and in the canal “It’s something he likes to talk about,” said political scientist at the University of Essex, Natasha Lindstaedt.

As part of the 1977 treaties, by which the United States handed over the canal to Panama in 1999, the Panamanians committed to guarantee that the route, through which the 5% of world maritime tradeis permanently open to all countries: “None of its principles mention, much less authorize, the United States to recover or claim the canal,” Julio Yao, who was part of the Panamanian team that negotiated the treaties, tells AFP.

But in those agreements there are amendments introduced by the United States regarding the possibility of Washington using military force unilaterally to “defend the channel against any threat”Panamanian professor of International Relations, Euclides Tapia, told AFP.

“Only by fabricating a false flag operation, through a covert operation, could Trump justify the use of military force in Panama and that exclusively to keep the canal open, not to take it over and use it economically,” he commented.

*With information from AFP.

Source link

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button