[Page S598]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 54--EXPRESSING THE VITAL IMPORTANCE OF THE PANAMA 
                       CANAL TO THE UNITED STATES

  Mr. LEE (for himself, Mr. Scott of Florida, Mr. Tuberville, and Mrs. 
Blackburn) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                               S. Res. 54

       Whereas early efforts of the Colombian government and 
     French investors to construct a canal across Panama were 
     unsuccessful and resulted in bankruptcy by 1889;
       Whereas, as a condition of United States Government support 
     for Panama's independence from Colombia, including the 
     positioning of United States troops in the then-territory of 
     Panama, the United States was to be assured access to 
     construct and control a canal in perpetuity, an agreement 
     that culminated in the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty, signed at 
     Washington November 18, 1903;
       Whereas the Panama Canal was never initiated, engineered, 
     or built by the Panamanian government;
       Whereas the United States Government funded, pioneered, and 
     built the Panama Canal over a 10-year period from 1904 to 
     1914, at a cost of $375,000,000 and 10,000 lives, and raised 
     the canal above sea level through construction of a lock 
     system;
       Whereas, historically, the Panama Canal has been distinct 
     from the sovereign territory of Panama;
       Whereas the Panama Canal serves as a vital connection 
     between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, connecting the east 
     and west coasts of the United States and providing passage 
     for more than 14,000 vessels in 2023;
       Whereas approximately 72 percent of vessels traveling 
     through the Panama Canal are traveling to or from United 
     States ports;
       Whereas, without the Panama Canal, vessels would have to 
     pass through the notoriously dangerous Cape Horn, extending 
     transit by nearly 8,000 miles;
       Whereas, in 1977, President Carter surrendered United 
     States control over the Panama Canal in a series of treaties 
     with Panama known as the ``Torrijos-Carter Treaties'';
       Whereas one of those treaties, the Treaty Concerning the 
     Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal, 
     signed at Washington September 7, 1977, otherwise known as 
     the ``Neutrality Treaty'', reserved the right of the United 
     States to use armed force to defend the permanent neutrality 
     of the Panama Canal;
       Whereas, for nearly a decade, the People's Republic of 
     China has steadily increased its footprint in the Panama 
     Canal;
       Whereas, in 2016, Panama ceded control of Margarita Island, 
     the Panama Canal's largest Atlantic port, to the People's 
     Republic of China-affiliated Landbridge Group in a 
     $900,000,000 agreement;
       Whereas, in 2018, Panama entered into a $1,400,000,000 
     agreement for the China Communications Construction Company 
     and the China Harbor Engineering Company to construct the 
     fourth bridge across the Panama Canal;
       Whereas CK Hutchison Holdings, based in Hong Kong, manages 
     two of the Panama Canal's five ports, including the Balboa 
     port along the Pacific and Cristobal port along the Atlantic;
       Whereas the rapid acceleration of Chinese influence in the 
     Panama Canal poses a high risk of intelligence-gathering and 
     surveillance by the People's Republic of China;
       Whereas Chinese law requires the assets of civilian firms 
     to be made available to support the armed forces of the 
     People's Republic of China;
       Whereas the Panama Canal would serve as a logistics point 
     between the east and west coasts of the United States in the 
     event of a conflict involving United States Armed Forces, 
     cementing its value to homeland and hemispheric defense; and
       Whereas the ability of the People's Republic of China to 
     control major entry and exit points of the Panama Canal would 
     provide the People's Republic of China with a significant 
     military advantage relevant to United States Armed Forces in 
     the event of a conflict: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) recognizes the ingenuity and labor of Americans that 
     made the Panama Canal possible for future generations, with 
     special regard for those Americans who lost their lives in 
     pursuit of the Panama Canal project;
       (2) expresses that the Panama Canal is vital to United 
     States regional security, hemispheric hegemony, and economic 
     interests;
       (3) assesses that a pattern of Chinese-backed investment in 
     port infrastructure and canal operations in Panama 
     constitutes a violation of the Neutrality Treaty; and
       (4) urges the Trump administration to ensure that the canal 
     remains neutral and to take all appropriate measures to 
     enforce the Neutrality Treaty.

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