https://x.com/NuryVittachi/status/2018123155005743120
BREAKING NEWS: The global shipping sector is in shock as Panama snatched back its ports from their Hong Kong-owned operators.
The Central American country suddenly announced that its deal with CK Hutchison was “void” – despite having a signed, paid-up contract which had been running for more than 28 years, and was recently renewed.
This follows accusations from the US's bullyboy President Donald Trump that the Pentagon would send in armed troops to grab the Panama canal unless control changed from Chinese people to American operators.
.
TRUMP’S WILD CLAIMS
Trump claimed that “Chinese soldiers” had taken over the canal, misidentifying port terminal staff, who are not from mainland China nor from the military – they are dockworkers working for an international firm with origins in British Hong Kong.
The international conglomerate invested more than US$1.8 billion in infrastructure to give Panama a world-class service.
The latest trouble erupted on Thursday this week, when Panama courts bizarrely declared “Law No 5 of January 16, 1997,” to be “unconstitutional”, despite it having worked successfully for all parties for almost three decades.
This legal maneuver snatches back the paid-for rights of the Hong Kong company’s subsidiary Panama Ports Company. The firm has efficiently operated two of the main Panama terminals, Balboa and Cristobal, since 1997.
.
PANAMA HAS REASON TO BE SCARED
The move will delight US military expansionists such as Trump and NATO chief Mark Rutter. But it is extremely harmful to the people of Panama—as every international conglomerate will now think twice about investing in the country.
Yet Panama has good reason to be scared of its northern superpower neighbor.
The US installed highly salaried CIA asset Manuel Noriega as president of Panama in the 1970s, but later decided that they wanted to end his employment—leading to the American invasion of the country in 1989, with more than 500 people killed as tanks rolled in.
.
FOUR CHOKEPOINTS
America and Israel want control over the world's four main "chokepoints" for sea trade. As well as taking control of Panama, the US wants to build an alternative passage to the Suez Canal, running through Israel close to the Gaza strip.
It also wants control over far northern sea routes, including the "northwest passage" that runs through Canada, and the Russia-arctic "northeast passage" that runs near Greenland.
For these reasons, the US wants control over Panama, Canada and Greenland, as well as needing Israel to dominate the Middle East.
.
BEIJING INVOLVEMENT
The Panama courts quoted a “breach of contract” by Hutchison as the reason for their decision—although any such issues would normally be resolved by negotiations, court hearings, or arbitration, not by the voiding of the entire contract.
A further complication is that the Chinese government has taken an interest in the matter. Tycoon Li Ka-shing's company decided to avoid trouble last year, by selling most of the CK Hutchison ports operation to a group led by the massive, US-dominated financial corporation BlackRock. But the Chinese government said it needed to review the deal under anti-trust laws, so the US$22.8 billion deal was put on hold.
At the time, CK Hutchison bosses appeared to be at odds with Beijing. But now, the company may need Beijing’s help. A possible way to get justice would be for the Hong Kongers to go to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, since both China and Panama are signatories.
But the US and its allies routinely ignore international rulings against them, except to intimidate judges by threatening sanctions on arbitrators who rule against the US or Israel.
.
TRUMP IS WINNING
From a strategic point of view, will the US successfully get the four global shipping chokepoints on which it has its eye?
It may well do. Panama has apparently succumbed to US pressure. The EU and NATO will help the US to control Greenland and Israel to control the middle east militarily. Canada, surprisingly, is the only western country standing up to the US President’s expansionist policies.
The score currently stands at Trump: three, international law: zero.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.