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 in his inaugural address that China was “operating the Panama Canal,” the primary maritime link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
CK Hutchison Holdings, through its subsidiary Panama Ports Company (PPC), has operated two of the five ports since the 1990s. It earlier agreed to sell them to a group led by a US investment firm as part of a larger transaction.
The court found that the laws allowing the firm to operate the ports were “unconstitutional,” but the PPC said the ruling “lacks legal basis.” Trump has repeatedly claimed that China controls the Central American Canal. 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 refuted the US government’s accusations, with President Jose Raul Mulino stating that the canal “is and will remain” in his country’s hands. Despite the fact that Chinese enterprises have a large presence in the canal, there is no public indication that China controls it.
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