An international law expert testifying before the U.S. Senate on national security threats to the Panama Canal said that “foreign operation” of the canal is prohibited and that China’s de facto control of ports on both ends of the canal potentially violates its Neutrality Treaty.
Eugene Kontorovich, a professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School and senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on Jan. 28 concerning the canal’s effect on U.S. trade and national security.
Most of the discussion surrounded the canal’s national security implications. President Donald Trump vowed to take the canal back because of concerns about China’s influence on its operation….