Letter: U.S. must never give up rights to Panama Canal

Article V of the Neutrality Treaty, the second of the two treaties signed by Panama in 1997, specifies that defense sites at the Panama Canal may be manned only by Panama.

But Panama has leased these sites to an agency of China's Peoples Liberation Army, a firm known as Hutchison-Whampoa Limited.

In addition, other portions of Panama law provide this Communist Chinese firm with exclusive authority to hire the pilots for ships using the canal, control the ports at both ends of the canal, determine the order of the ships passing through the waterway, deny passage to ships at its discretion and transfer its illegally gotten rights to any other nation.

The Panama Canal was built and paid for by the United States. It is clearly one of the most strategic waterways in the world and its most frequent users are ships either beginning or ending their voyages in the United States.

Its value in commerce is immense, but if the United States should ever need it for military purposes, its value would be immeasurable.

It's not too late for Congress to stop this treachery. Members of both houses of Congress, but especially senators who have a constitutional role in treaty-making, must take action to ensure that the United States will not give up its ownership and rights based on this illegal arrangement.

MATTHEW CLENDENEN

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