Two of the five canal-side ports, Balboa and Cristóbal, located on the Pacific and Atlantic sides, respectively, have been operated by a subsidiary of Hutchison Port Holdings since 1997.
The company is a subsidiary of the publicly traded CK Hutchison Holdings, a Hong Kong conglomerate founded by Hong Kong businessman Li Ka-shin. It has port operations in 24 countries, including the UK.
It has port operations in 24 countries, including the UK.
Although it is not a Chinese state property, says Ryan Berg, director of the US Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, there have been concerns in Washington about how much Beijing will be able to control the company.
A wealth of potentially useful strategic information about ships passing through the waterway passes through these ports.
“There is growing geopolitical and economic tension between the US and China,” says Berg. “Such cargo information would be very useful in the event of a supply chain war.”
CK Hutchison did not respond to a BBC request for comment.
According to Andrew Thomas, a University of Akron professor who wrote a book about the canal, bids to operate these ports faced little to no competition. “The US didn’t really care about those ports at the time, and Hutchison didn’t face any objections,” he says.
Chinese companies, both private and state-owned, have also increased their presence in Panama with billions in investment, including a cruise terminal and a bridge to be built across the canal.
This “package of Chinese actions,” as Mr. Thomas describes it, may have prompted Trump to claim that the canal “belongs” to China, but the operation of those ports does not equate to ownership, he points out.
Beijing has repeatedly stated that China’s ties with Latin America are characterized by “equality, mutual benefit, innovation, openness and people-to-people benefits.”
