Panama begins audit of Hong Kong company in nod to Donald Trump

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Panama’s authorities on Monday started an audit of a Hong Kong firm that operates ports at both finish of its canal, after US President Donald Trump warned that he wished to take again the waterway over alleged Chinese language affect.

In his inauguration speech on Monday, Trump repeated criticisms he made in recent weeks in regards to the Panama Canal, which handles about 3 per cent of worldwide seaborne commerce annually.

In response, Panama’s Workplace of the Comptroller Normal revealed a video on social media platform X of about 10 women and men in fits submitting off a bus into the native places of work of Hong Kong-based Hutchison Ports to start an audit, in a transfer seen as a nod to Trump.

“Right this moment our auditors arrived at [the company] to begin an exhaustive audit aimed toward guaranteeing environment friendly and clear use of public assets,” the comptroller common’s workplace stated on X.

Hutchison Ports, the ports arm of Hong Kong-listed conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings, operates 53 ports in 24 international locations together with within the UK, Germany and Hong Kong.

It first received the concessions to function two ports, one at every finish of the canal, in 1997, the yr that Hong Kong was returned to Chinese language rule by the UK. The concessions have been renewed in 2021.

Managed by the household of Li Ka-shing — one of many richest in Asia — CK Hutchison Holdings additionally operates an enormous international infrastructure portfolio together with Northumbrian Water within the UK and the Australian Fuel Networks.

China doesn’t management the canal, however some officers in Washington are more and more involved about Chinese language firms’ presence within the space. Hong Kong’s authorities has develop into extra intently aligned with China since a crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2019 and the introduction of powerful nationwide safety laws.

CK Hutchison didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Panama’s audit.

The US oversaw the constructing of the canal, which opened in 1914, however handed full management again to the Central American nation in 1999. Trump has known as the transfer a “mistake” and has decried the excessive charges.

Charges to cross the canal, which makes use of contemporary water to function its locks, have risen considerably since a major drought in 2023 led to restrictions and later adjustments in how slots are assigned.

“We’ve got been handled very badly from this silly reward that ought to by no means have been made,” Trump stated. “We didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama and we’re taking it again.”

Panama has lengthy been one of many closest US allies in Central America and has been attempting to halt US-bound migration by means of its notorious Darién Gap. The nation lower ties with Taiwan to recognise China throughout Trump’s first time period in 2017.

Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino — a law and order conservative — on Monday revealed a strongly worded assertion “wholly rejecting” Trump’s phrases and saying the canal would stay Panamanian.

He added that no nation was interfering with the canal’s administration and that dialogue was the easiest way to resolve the problems Trump raised. He additionally disagreed with Trump’s characterisation of the US returning the canal to Panama.

“The canal wasn’t given by anybody, it was the results of a generational struggle that culminated in 1999,” he wrote on X.