Cina's "one country one system" affects Panama

 

 China's tight grip on Hong Kong led to Trump's Panama gambit

This week's China Up Close reveals how the China-Hong Kong relationship is affecting U.S. policy toward the Panama Canal. The administration of President Donald Trump says China has a contingency plan to shut down the canal in the event of a conflict with the U.S. Why does the administration believe this? Because ports at both ends of the canal are operated by a company under Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings, founded by tycoon Li Ka-shing.
 
When the company started to run the ports in 1997, the U.S. did not necessarily see a problem. China's "one country, two systems" approach toward Hong Kong, which was handed over from the U.K. that same year, looked to be functioning. In 2019, when Hong Kongers took to the streets en masse, it still seemed China's control over the territory's business leaders was less than rigid. This could be gleaned from editorial-like advertisements that Li placed in major newspapers calling for an end to violence.
 
But the situation changed the following year with the enactment of a Beijing-imposed national security law in Hong Kong. With China having tightened its grip on the territory, the U.S. has come to believe that Hong Kong's business community will have to obey orders from Beijing. No more coded messages that could be construed as defiance. This means the Panama port operator would follow orders to close the canal. In this way, the narrow water lane connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans has become a focal point in the second matchup between Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.