Panama Canal

[Gregory Matthews]

The Panama Canal, China & The United States:  This is an issue that is much in the news today, as President Trump has suggested that the U.S. should regain ownership/operation of the Panama Canal.  I once lived in Panama.  My office windows looked out on the Pacific locks, and I could walk to the edge of the locks and wave up to the crews of the ships passing through.  In fact, I once walked from one side to the other, underneath the locks!

Historically The United States completed building the Canal in 1979.  In 2016, a second set of larger locks was completed. 

During the time the U.S. was building the canal and for some time afterwards, the United States had control of a 10-mile strip of land that was called the Canal Zone and went from the Pacific side to the Caribbean/Atlantic side.  In this section, U.S. law ruled.  If a Panamanian citizen wanted to drive an automobile across the Canal Zone (CZ), that person had to have a CZ driver's license.    Just imagine how we would think if France controlled a 10-mile strip of the U.S. that ranged from San Francisco to New York.  In that strip, French law ruled.

Under President Carter, the Canal Zone and the ownership of the Can was fully transferred to Panama.  Panama has full control of the operation of the Canal.  As the owner of the Canal, Panama has hired China to provide some, not all, needed services.  In addition, China has financed the construction of a bridge across the Canal, and   China has purchased some property that is associated with the operation of the canal.  Those two projects amount to an investment by China in the Canal of close to 2.3 billion dollars.  However, Panama retains full operational control of the Canal.

The operation of the Canal is governed by an international treaty in which all nations may use the Canal, upon payment of a fair charge that is equal for all nations.  In addition, the U.S. has a right to defend the Canal against any nation that attacks it.

[phkrause]

2 Panama Canal ports have dragged Panama into a tussle between superpowers

Two ports run for years by a Hong Kong-based company at either end of the Panama Canal have thrust Panama into a geopolitical tug-of-war between the United States and China. Read more.

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