Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that China’s government could shut down the Panama Canal in the event of a conflict with the United States, as he heads into an upcoming trip to the Central American country.
He said the Hong Kong–based firm that operates ports on both ends of the canal would be compelled to comply with orders from Beijing. “If the government in China in a conflict tells them to shut down the Panama Canal, they will have to,” he said on the Megyn Kelly Show on Thursday. “And in fact, I have zero doubt that they have contingency planning to do so. That is a direct threat.”
Rubio is headed to Central America next Thursday, the first time a secretary of state has made his inaugural trip to the region and also significant as a demonstration of President Trump’s emphasis on securing America’s position in the Western Hemisphere. While Trump’s blunt comments about seizing the canal — including during his inaugural address — have received pushback from the Panamanian government, Rubio has built a detailed basis from which he will approach talks with its leaders in a bid to regain U.S. control of the canal.
While Rubio said he views Panama as a generally pro-U.S. partner, he and other officials have expressed concern that it is drifting into China’s orbit. Rubio cited growing Chinese investment in Panama and the country’s decision to cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of China. Trump’s special envoy for Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Carone, raised Panama’s embrace of Chinese “smart city” technology and Huawei equipment under the administration of former President Jose Raul Mulino.
The ports at the center of the dispute are owned by CK Hutchison Holdings. Rubio said during his confirmation hearing this month that they appeared to resemble civilian or state-owned facilities that “could be quickly changed over to a military capability.” He had observed them from an airplane during a trip the previous month.
Analysis by Strategy Risks, a China-focused risk analysis firm, assessed that the company is subject to Chinese laws that force it to cooperate with China’s military, though it found no direct Chinese government links to the Hutchison ports, according to the New York Times. The Times also reported that another aspect of the Hutchison corporate structure is part of a joint venture with AVIC, a Chinese military conglomerate.
“A company based in Hong Kong is the government of China. You are not a company in China if the Chinese government doesn’t control you,” Rubio told Kelly.
He added that he views the status quo as a violation of the treaty under which the U.S. handed over control of the canal to Panama during the Carter administration and a situation that is not in America’s national interest. Overall, Rubio said, Trump has been clear that he wants the U.S. to administer the canal again.
Rubio also linked Trump’s drive to acquire Greenland, which is a territory of Denmark, to China’s growing presence in the Arctic.
“It is completely realistic to believe that the Chinese will eventually — maybe even in the short term — try to do in Greenland what they have done at the Panama Canal and in other places. That is, install facilities that give them access to the Arctic with the cover of a Chinese company but that in reality serve a dual purpose: that in a moment of conflict, they could send naval vessels to that facility and operate from there.”