Panama’s Supreme Court has revoked contracts allowing a Hong Kong-based corporation to manage container ports along the Panama Canal. The decision comes a year after US President Donald Trump said China was “operating the Panama Canal,” the primary maritime link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, during his inaugural speech.
Since the 1990s, CK Hutchison Holding’s subsidiary, Panama Ports Company (PPC), has operated two of the five ports. It earlier agreed to sell them to a group led by a US investment firm as part of a larger transaction.
The court ruled that the legislation permitting the business to operate the ports were “unconstitutional,” but the PPC argued that the decision “lacks legal basis.” Trump has repeatedly stated that the Central American canal is under Chinese control. During his presentation in January, he stated, “China is operating the Panama Canal, which we did not gift to China. We handed it to Panama and are taking it back.
The following month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio requested that Panama make “immediate changes” to what he described as China’s “influence and control” of the canal. Panama has previously dismissed the US government’s assertions, and President Jose Raul Mulino has stated that the canal “is and will remain” in his country’s control.
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