China risks US reaction by intervening in Panama Canal sale, former senior diplomat says
China risks further measures from the United States unless it treats a
deal by Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison to sell its Panama Canal ports to an American firm as a 'private transaction', a former US senior diplomat has told the Post.
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In an exclusive interview, Daniel Kritenbrink, former US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said that if Beijing tried to intervene in the deal, it risked 'further complicating' US-China relations.
Kritenbrink, a career diplomat who served under both Donald Trump and Joe Biden, is the first former US official to issue such a statement.
Trump hailed the deal to sell Hutchison's ports at either end of the waterway, saying Washington was 'reclaiming' the canal, which he had previously vowed to take over.
But the deal has prompted a backlash. Beijing's top offices overseeing Hong Kong affairs have reposted
several articles by a pro-government newspaper criticising the move as harming national interests and bowing to 'American hegemony'.
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Kritenbrink, who served as the US ambassador to Vietnam in Trump's first term, also noted that Washington and Beijing were using tit-for-tat measures to 'generate leverage' for future trade negotiations.
'[The Panama Canal deal] is the perfect manifestation for the increasing rivalry between China and the United States', said Kritenbrink, who is now a partner with the Asia Group, a consultancy firm headquartered in Washington.
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