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Senate hearing spotlights legal and security concerns over Panama Canal amid Chinese ties
Summary
Sen. Ted Cruz, chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, opened a hearing examining what he and witnesses called potential threats to U.S. interests in the Panama Canal, saying, "We cannot afford to let American shippers be extorted."
Sen. Ted Cruz, chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, opened a hearing examining what he and witnesses called potential threats to U.S. interests in the Panama Canal, saying, "We cannot afford to let American shippers be extorted." The committee heard testimony about Chinese involvement in canal-area infrastructure, port concessions held by a Hong Kong company, and legal questions under the 1977 treaty governing the canal's neutrality.
The hearing brought together shipping regulators, legal scholars and industry representatives to describe how changes in Panama’s port contracts and infrastructure investments could affect the canal's neutrality and U.S. access. "The essential…
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