DATE=9/3/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT (L)
TITLE=PANAMA CHINESE (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-253439
BYLINE=GREG FLAKUS
DATELINE=PANAMA CITY, PANAMA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Recent newspaper reports in the United States
have created concern among some Republican senators
and members of Congress that front companies for the
communist government of mainland China may have gained
influence over the operation of the Panama Canal.
But, as V-O-A's Greg Flakus reports from Panama City,
most Panamanians are perplexed by the issue.
TEXT: Panamanian officials and private sector
representatives have firmly rejected the reports from
Washington about possible Chinese control of the
canal. As newly inaugurated President Mireya Moscoso
put it earlier this week, the canal will be run by
Panamanians and not by anyone else. She said, "we
will guarantee the world safe passage through the
canal, just as the United States did."
Under the 1977 Panama Canal treaties, the entire canal
and all facilities surrounding it will revert to
Panama at the end of this year. Most of it, in fact,
already has, and Panama has sold some facilities to
private interests from various parts of the world.
In 1997, the Hong Kong-based Hutchinson Whampoa
company bought port facilities on both the Atlantic
and Pacific sides of the canal. The company is highly
rated by international maritime experts for its
management of other such facilities around the world,
but some US conservatives and former military men say
it is a front for the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army.
Company spokesmen deny any connection with the Chinese
military.
In a recent letter to U-S Defense Secretary William
Cohen, Senate Majority leader Trent Lott charged that
-in his words-"US naval ships will be at the mercy of
Chinese-controlled pilots and could even be denied
passage through the Panama canal." This is an
assertion that canal Administrator Alberto Aleman
flatly denies.
/// ALEMAN ACT ///
The Panama canal and the Panama canal Authority
will have full control, after the year 2000, of
all the vessels which are in canal waters. The
Panama Canal Authority pilots are the ones that
will have full control of the ships. Plus our
Constitution, as well as the law of the country,
says that any project done within canal waters
has to have the full acceptance of the Panama
Canal Authority or Commission.
/// END ACT ///
/// OPT /// Panamanian officials and business sector
representatives say the Hong Kong company is only one
of many to have invested in canal assets, which are
being privatized as they are turned over to Panama.
U-S companies have also participated. The Kansas
Southern Railway, for example, is renovating the train
line that parallels the canal in hopes of offering an
alternative for moving goods across the isthmus. ///
END OPT ///
Some Panamanians say the questions raised in
Washington represent a last protest from conservatives
still angry over the treaties, which -in their view-
"gave away the canal."
In any case, Clinton administration spokesmen have
made clear that there will be no stepping back from
the U-S commitment to formally hand over all canal
assets by December 31. (Signed).
Neb/gf/gm
03-Sep-1999 17:45 PM EDT (03-Sep-1999 2145 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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