Calls are growing Washington for action to loosen Beijing’s influence stemming from Chinese and Hong Kong companies' control over key infrastructure on the Panama Canal and other port facilities in the Western hemisphere. At a recent meeting of the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security, Chairman Carlos Jimenez warned that Beijing has “a strategic position over one of the world’s most important waterways,” referring to the Panama Canal.
He said this gives the Chinese Communist Party an opportunity “to exert influence over commercial shipping, gather intelligence on American and Allied vessel traffic, and potentially restrict the mobility of our Navy in a time of crisis.” Almost half of the leading container ports outside of China have some Chinese ownership or operations, experts told the hearing.