Panama Canal pushes back against Trump's claims of Chinese meddling
Administrator of Panama Canal Ricaurte Vásquez denied Trump's claims that China was controlling the canal's operations, and said making exceptions to current rules concerning its operation would lead to “chaos”
PTI/AP
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US President-elect Donald Trump
Panama City, 11 Jan
The administrator of the Panama
Canal said Friday that the vital waterway will remain in Panamanian hands and
open to commerce from all countries, rejecting claims by President-elect Donald
Trump that the United States should take it over.
In an interview with The Associated
Press, Ricaurte Vásquez denied Trump's claims that China was controlling the
canal's operations, and said making exceptions to current rules concerning its
operation would lead to “chaos.”
He said Chinese companies operating
in the ports on either end of the canal were part of a Hong Kong consortium
that won a bidding process in 1997. He added that U.S. and Taiwanese companies
are operating other ports along the canal as well.
Trump has gone so far as to suggest
the US should take back control of the canal and he would not rule out using
military might to do so. “It might be that you'll have to do something,” Trump
said Tuesday. “The Panama Canal is vital to our country.” Trump has
characterised the fees for transiting the canal that connects the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans as “ridiculous.”
Panama President José Raúl Mulino
has said unequivocally that the canal will remain in Panamanian hands.
Responding to the suggestion that
the U.S. could try to retake control of the canal, Vásquez said there was “no
foundation for that sort of hope. That is the only thing I can say.”
Vasquez stressed that the Panama
Canal was open to the commerce of all countries.
The canal can't give special
treatment to US-flagged ships because of a neutrality treaty, Vasquez added.
“The most sensible and efficient way to do this is to maintain the established
rules.”
Requests for exceptions are
routinely rejected, because the process is clear and there mustn't be arbitrary
variations, he said. The only exception in the neutrality treaty is for
American warships, which receive expedited passage. Some 70% of the sea traffic
that crosses the Panama Canal leaves or goes to US ports.
The United States built the canal
in the early 1900s as it looked for ways to facilitate the transit of
commercial and military vessels between its coasts. Washington relinquished
control of the waterway to Panama on Dec 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in
1977 by President Jimmy Carter.
Last month, Trump told supporters
“We're being ripped off at the Panama Canal.” He claimed that the US “foolishly
gave it away.”
Regarding the fees for using the
canal, Vasquez said a planned series of increases had concluded with one this
month. Any additional increases would be considered in the first half of the
year to give clients certainty in their planning and would go through a public
comment process, he said. “There's no discrimination in the fees,” he said.
“The price rules are uniform for absolutely all those who transit the canal and
clearly defined.”
The canal depends on reservoirs to
operate its locks and was heavily affected by drought during the past two years
that forced it to substantially reduce the number of daily slots for crossing
ships. With fewer ships using the canal each day, administrators increased the
fees that are charged all shippers for reserving a slot.
The canal bisects Panama, running
51 miles end to end. It allows ships to avoid the longer and costlier trip
around Cape Horn at the tip of South America. “It is an enormous
responsibility,” Vásquez said of Panama's control of the canal. “Take the case
of COVID, when it arrived, the canal took the necessary measures to protect the
labor force, but while keeping the canal open, because the international
commitment is to keep it open.”
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