Trump Won't Let China Seize Panama Canal

JAKARTA - US President Donald Trump has accused China of trying to take control of the Panama Canal. But Trump insists it won't happen.

"Now, China is trying to take over the Panama Canal. We won't let that happen, okay?" Trump said from Medora, North Dakota, as reported by Sputnik, Thursday, July 2.

In February, the Panamanian government informed the country's authorities that it had temporarily taken over the management of the Balboa and Cristobal ports in the canal after declaring the contract with the Panama Ports Company (PPC), a local subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based Hutchinson Group, invalid.

Panama's Supreme Court ruled that a 1997 law approving a concession agreement with PPC to integrate the Balboa terminal on the Pacific coast and the Cristobal terminal on the Atlantic coast was unconstitutional.

The Office of Hong Kong and Macau Affairs of the State Council of China called the Panama court's decision unreasonable and it violated the legal rights of CK Hutchinson Holdings Ltd, and the company itself had filed a lawsuit against Panama.

Chinese authorities, without directly naming the US, accused Panama of succumbing to "hegemony" and giving in to "pressure and intimidation" instead of defending national independence, and warned of possible political and economic consequences.