Panama Maintains Push to Annul Contract with Chinese Subsidiary Operating Canal Ports
Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino reaffirmed on Thursday his intention to terminate the concession contract that allows Panama Ports Company, a subsidiary of China’s CK Hutchison Holdings, to operate the Balboa and Cristóbal ports, located at the Pacific and Atlantic entrances of the Panama Canal.
Mulino described the contract as “harmful to national interests” and recalled that on July 30, the Office of the Comptroller General filed two lawsuits before the Supreme Court. One seeks to declare unconstitutional the law that in 1997 granted the concession, and the other aims to annul its 2021 renewal for another 25 years, which the government considers “abusive” to the country’s interests.
The president stressed that the legal process will continue and that he will abide by the Supreme Court’s decision, but warned that the current situation will not be tolerated indefinitely. “We will not have our port territory held hostage or allow profits to be made without the State receiving its rightful share,” he said.
Although the company has requested a dialogue, Mulino stated that he is only willing to negotiate if it does not involve maintaining a contract that he considers detrimental to national interests.
The management of these strategic ports, operated by the Hong Kong-based subsidiary, has become a focal point amid the broader geopolitical rivalry between the United States and China. CK Hutchison’s plan to sell its port assets in dozens of countries to a consortium that includes U.S. investment firm BlackRock Inc. remains stalled due to these tensions.
In this context, U.S. Ambassador to Panama Kevin Marino Cabrera recently called Panama Ports “a bad operator” that “owes more than $600 million to the Panamanian people” and linked it directly to the Chinese Communist Party.
The Panamanian government, however, has reiterated that it maintains full control over the Panama Canal and that the port concession does not mean China influences its operation.
* Original text in Spanish. Translated by Large Language Model (LLM) technology.
Main Source:
Presidente de Panamá insiste en anulación de contrato de filial china que opera puertos del canal – Independent Español
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