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)
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Source: Voice of America
.