When the USS Wisconsin, a battleship, passed through the Panama Canal in 1957 on its last cruise to South America, with several hundred of us Navy ROTC midshipmen aboard, the only issue was the scraping of the protective fenders as the ship squeezed its wide berth through the channel, with barely a foot to spare on each side. Danger from hostile action was inconceivable, as the entire canal was under U.S. control.

Today, the Navy no longer operates battleships, but its cruisers, destroyers, amphibious ships and submarines use the canal to move elements of its fleet between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, rather than taking the much longer route around South America. For U.S. national security, it is an absolutely vital waterway, especially in times of conflict.

In the 1960s and 1970s, a series of violent street protests against the U.S. presence in Panama by “opposition groups including the Communists” put pressure on both governments. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter negotiated transfer of the canal to the newly created Panamanian state. The conditions of the treaty provided that the U.S., traditionally the largest user, would continue to “manage, operate, and maintain the Panama Canal” until the end of 1999, when it came under Panamanian ownership and control.

Almost immediately, China began financing infrastructure improvements to the canal, and a Chinese-controlled company — Hutchison Whampoa of Hong Kong — succeeded in winning contracts to operate ports at both entry points.

© The Hill