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  • Panama president calls =?UTF-8?B?VHJ1bXDigJlzIHRhbGsgb2Yg4oCYcmVjbGFpbW

    From ltlee1@21:1/5 to All on Wed Mar 5 18:01:22 2025
    "PANAMA CITY (AP) — Panama President José Raúl Mulino on Wednesday
    accused U.S. President Donald Trump of lying when he said in his address
    to Congress that his administration was “reclaiming” the Panama Canal.

    Trump was referencing a deal announced Tuesday for a consortium led by
    the U.S. investment management company BlackRock Inc. to buy a
    controlling stake in the company held by a Chinese group that operates
    ports at both ends of the Panama Canal.

    Panama maintains that it has full control over the canal and that the
    Hong Kong-based group’s operation of the ports did not amount to Chinese control over the waterway, and that therefore the sale to a U.S.-based
    company would not represent any U.S. “reclaiming” of the canal. Panama’s government on Tuesday called the sale a private transaction.

    Mulino in a message posted to X on Wednesday, rejected that the deal
    came about because of U.S. pressure. “I reject in the name of Panama and
    all Panamanians this new affront to the truth and our dignity as a
    nation,” he wrote. He accused Trump of “lying again.”"

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From ltlee1@21:1/5 to All on Thu Mar 6 13:03:27 2025
    In a lot of things, Trump's strategy is his media strategy. Is Trump's
    media strategy regarding the Panama Canal working?

    On the one hand: Trump’s talk of ‘reclaiming’ the Panama Canal a lie.
    On the other hand: The Panama government does refuse to renew the
    contract with Hong Kong companies. The refusal opens the door for a
    Blackrock company to take over the management of the canal ports.

    In this case, it is obvious that Trump won. Basically, Panama president
    fails to ask for compensation for what the US has acquired. Namely, the
    US now has greater ability to selectively shut down the canal or charge
    higher transition fee against certain group of ships through American companies.

    Panama president did not ask because he allows the media to convince him
    that Trump's taking over the Panama is more real then it should be. Of
    course, no one can totally eliminate the probability of a military take
    over. But then such take over would be VERY costly.

    Why Trump's media strategy works? And what is the limits of such media strategy?

    For one thing, the US government could forbid differential treatment in
    its contract with port management.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From ltlee1@21:1/5 to All on Fri Mar 7 21:20:57 2025
    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/blackrock-to-buy-chinese-ports-on-panama-canal/

    Headline and subheadline: calling Ports managed by
    "BlackRock to Buy Chinese Ports on Panama Canal
    State of the Union: Trump has argued that Chinese influence in Panama
    endangers US interests."

    The ports is currently managed by CK Hutchison Holdings Limited
    (Chinese: 長江和記實業有限公司) is a Hong Kong–based and Cayman Islands–registered
    multinational conglomerate corporation. It is a company controlled by
    ethnic Chinese Li Ka-shing (1950–2018) and now his son Victor Li (Since 2018). Victor Li is Canadian citizen.

    As for Li Ka-Shing, he was anti-communist according to UK declassified documents.

    "英国最新解密文件：传指李嘉诚“相当反共”
    发布 / 2018年10月20日 12:29 PM"

    https://www.zaobao.com.sg/realtime/china/story20181020-900671

    I had read a commentary Li wrote during the 2019 Protest in Hong Kong.
    The article gave me the impression that he was anti-PRC.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)