China Outraged After Panama Court Strips Power Over Canal from Hong Kong Company

Communist China is furious over losing control of the world’s biggest commercial bottleneck, the Panama Canal, through which passes 40 percent of America’s container traffic. The propaganda newspaper Global Times, an English-language offshoot of the Chinese Communist Party organ, People’s Daily, is accusing Washington of “hegemonic arrogance in using geopolitical means to interfere with commercial cooperation and undermine trade rules.”The outburst of rhetoric reflects Beijing’s outrage about the decision of Panama’s Supreme Court to strip a subsidiary of the Hong Kong company, CK Hutchison Holdings, of power over the ports at either end of the 51-mile-long canal. CK Hutchison is controlled by Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, whose close ties to Beijing are essential to the success of his global business empire.The decision represents a triumph for President Trump, who saw the canal as giving China a grip on a waterway of critical importance to America’s economy and security. Mr. Trump invoked the Monroe Doctrine, promulgated by the fifth American president, James Monroe, in 1823, stating that any attempt by European powers to extend or colonize the American continent would be a “hostile act.”Mr. Trump has expanded what is sometimes jokingly called the “Donroe Doctrine” to include China.In pursuit of Mr. Trump’s policy of “peace through strength,” the White House put out a statement by him in December in which he declared America had “restored U.S. privileged access through the Panama Canal” while “reestablishing American maritime dominance” and “disrupting non-market practices in the international supply chain and logistics sectors.” China lost its power over the canal when a Panamanian court ruled against C.K. Hutchison’ giving control over the Panama Canal ports to a subsidiary, Panama Ports Company. Simultaneously, Panama became the first Latin American country to pull out of China’s vaunted Belt and Road Initiative. “What has it brought to Panama all these years?” the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong quoted Panama’s President, José Raúl Mulino asking, as he ordered Panama’s embassy in Beijing to inform the Chinese of his decision.In Beijing, the Chinese state news agency, Xinhua, quoted a foreign ministry spokesperson saying the Panama court ruling proved “the Cold War mentality and ideological bias of the United States.”CK Hutchison said its next step would be to seek arbitration on the court’s decision, a prospect the Panamanian president rejected Wednesday morning. The most that Hutchison is likely to get would be a hefty cash settlement. Strong American influence would most likely outweigh the will of the Chinese, to whom control of the canal would open the way to increasing their influence over the region.The aggrieved objections of the Chinese deepened suspicions that they saw control of the canal as an extension of power and influence across the Pacific. The South China Morning Post quoted China’s Hong Kong and Macao office as warning, if Panama authorities “insist on having their own way … heavy prices both politically and economically will surely be paid.”Reuters, in a report from Hong Kong, said the deal “opened a new front in contention between the United States and China, as they grapple for control of the world’s most important trade routes.”The Chinese, however, had to rely on words, not armed force, in their response. “The geopolitical will of the US often surpasses the constitutions of some sovereign nations,” said the Global Times. “This is a mockery of the principle of sovereign equality enshrined in the United Nations Charter.’’Choosing Panama for the first foreign country he’s visited since becoming secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, wanted listeners to know that President Trump was dead serious about recovering Panama, the whole country, not just the canal. “This is not a joke,” he warned.

China Outraged After Panama Court Strips Power Over Canal from Hong Kong Company

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