Senator Cruz: China’s Panama Canal Strategy Poses ‘Acute Risks to U.S. Security’

WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Reuters) – A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Tuesday expressed alarm at China’s influence on the Panama Canal, which President Donald Trump has vowed the United States would take back.

“Chinese companies are building a bridge across the canal – at a slow pace so as to take nearly a decade – and control container ports at either end,” Senate Commerce Committee chair Ted Cruz said at a hearing on the canal’s role in U.S. trade and national security.

“The partially-completed bridge gives China the ability to block the canal without warning, and the ports give China ready observation posts to time that action. This situation poses acute risks to U.S. national security,” he added.

More than 40% of U.S. conta…