We were talking about an odd little incident in which a group of rather extreme Americans, including a former chair of the Joint Chiefs, are getting their knickers in a twist because Hutchison-Whampoa, of Hong Kong, has a contract to operate ports near the ends of the Panama canal. The group concerned calls HWI "a commercial front" for the Chinese military, and sees the operation (by a company which operates ports all over the world) as an attempt by the mainland to gain control of the canal. They want the US to force Panama to rescind the contracts and replace HWI with a company run by someone more trustworthy - white people, to put it bluntly.
There is no indication that HWI has ever used its facilities to advance mainland military interests; the whole issue is that the CEO of the company is Chinese, and has close ties to the mainland - the Company, which is publicly held, is described in sinister terms as "Chinese-owned". Some here have argued that if HWI actually was taking its orders from Beijing, and if a major war broke out, and if the HWI staff on the ground in Panama were willing to risk the proximate and imminent wrath of the US, they could seriously disrupt the approaches to the canal. This highly theoretical capability, they say, can be construed as intent, so the US should try to force HWI out.
My point regarding relative capability was that if this argument was turned around, with the assumption that any company that is "on close terms" with the US Government is a commercial front for the US Government, this could be used as a weapon against US Companies everywhere. Plus, given relative military capabilities of the US and China, I think the whole issue is a bit ridiculous.
"American will to confront anyone militarily over purely external matters not central to American survival" does not enter into the picture, except to the extent that extremists are pushing to use US muscle to restrain trade based on a highly theoretical security issue. For that matter, why should America have the will to confront anyone militarily over issues not central to American survival? Granted, it sometimes needs to be done, but it should certainly never be something we want to do. |
