By Necva Tastan Sevinc
ISTANBUL (AA) - Panama’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that license terms granted to a Hong Kong-based company to operate two strategic ports at either end of the Panama Canal violate the country’s constitution.
In a brief statement, the high court said the terms allowing CK Hutchison to operate the ports of Balboa on the Pacific coast and Cristobal on the Atlantic side were unconstitutional, according to the local daily La Prensa.
The decision comes about a year after US President Donald Trump publicly raised alarms over Chinese-linked infrastructure near the canal, describing it as a potential security threat to the United States.
“China is operating the Panama Canal, and we didn’t give it to China,” Trump said during his inaugural address last year, referring to decades of Chinese commercial involvement around the vital shipping route.
The Supreme Court ruling could force a reassessment of port concessions and reshape the balance of influence over one of the world’s most strategic maritime corridors.
The ruling places Panama at the center of growing geopolitical rivalry between the US and China in the Western Hemisphere, where control over key infrastructure has increasingly become a strategic issue.