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- Mar 19, 2015
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More winning.
Kicking the ChiComs out from running the canal was a priority.
apnews.com
Kicking the ChiComs out from running the canal was a priority.
Panama’s president moved to assure the public on Friday that critical ports at both ends of the Panama Canal will continue to operate without interruption — a day after the country’s Supreme Court ruled that the concession held by a subsidiary of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings was unconstitutional.
The court’s decision late Thursday advances a U.S. aim to block any influence by China over the strategic waterway and immediately drew a sharp rebuke from Beijing.
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino said that until the court’s ruling is executed — a period of time he did not specify — Panama’s Maritime Authority would work with Panama Ports Company, the CK Hutchison subsidiary, to ensure continuing operations at the port.
Once the concession is formally ended, a local subsidiary of Danish logistics company A.P. Moller-Maersk will operate the ports in a transitional phase until a new concession can be bid and awarded, Mulino said.
...
The court’s ruling followed an audit by Panama’s comptroller, which alleged irregularities in the 25-year extension of the concession, granted in 2021.
The Trump administration made blocking China’s influence over the Panama Canal one of its priorities in the hemisphere. Panama was U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s first overseas stop as the United States’ top diplomat. On Friday, Rubio said on X that “the United States is encouraged by the recent Panamanian Supreme Court’s decision to rule port concessions to China unconstitutional.”
Despite the insistence by Panama’s government and the canal authority that China has no influence over its operations, Rubio made clear that the U.S. viewed the operation of the ports as a national security issue. U.S. President Donald Trump had gone so far as to say Panama should return the canal to U.S. control.
...
The court’s decision late Thursday advances a U.S. aim to block any influence by China over the strategic waterway and immediately drew a sharp rebuke from Beijing.
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino said that until the court’s ruling is executed — a period of time he did not specify — Panama’s Maritime Authority would work with Panama Ports Company, the CK Hutchison subsidiary, to ensure continuing operations at the port.
Once the concession is formally ended, a local subsidiary of Danish logistics company A.P. Moller-Maersk will operate the ports in a transitional phase until a new concession can be bid and awarded, Mulino said.
...
The court’s ruling followed an audit by Panama’s comptroller, which alleged irregularities in the 25-year extension of the concession, granted in 2021.
The Trump administration made blocking China’s influence over the Panama Canal one of its priorities in the hemisphere. Panama was U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s first overseas stop as the United States’ top diplomat. On Friday, Rubio said on X that “the United States is encouraged by the recent Panamanian Supreme Court’s decision to rule port concessions to China unconstitutional.”
Despite the insistence by Panama’s government and the canal authority that China has no influence over its operations, Rubio made clear that the U.S. viewed the operation of the ports as a national security issue. U.S. President Donald Trump had gone so far as to say Panama should return the canal to U.S. control.
...
Panama Canal ports will keep operating after court finds concession unconstitutional, president says
Panama’s president has vowed that critical ports at both ends of the Panama Canal will continue to operate without interruption.
apnews.com
