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ChiComs wants to widen Panama Canal
From East Asia Intel, subscription req'd
A delegation of Chinese officials that visited Panama last week offered to help widen the Panama Canal, according to the Independent Central American press agency.
We'll widen your ditch. We have the best concrete in the world. Look how we did at 3 gorges dam!
Nine members of the communist People's Congress discussed the issue with Panamanian officials. They also raise the possibility of investing in the Howard Special Economic Zone on the Pacific side of the isthmus.
We would like to build a missile silo factory in your zone.
"There is no doubt in our minds that the initiative to modernize the canal will enjoy the support of its principal users, which, like China, have witnessed the innovative efforts we Panamanians have made to place ourselves in a strategic position in the development of a more unstable world international maritime trade," said Elias Castillo, chairman of the Panamanian Congress' foreign relations committee. Panama also wants to promote high-technology development in the special economic zone, which was once the U.S. Howard Air Force Base. China has purchased long-term leases on ports at both sides of the Panama Canal, raising national security concerns that Beijing could disrupt shipping through the strategic waterway in times of crisis.
Never crossed Jimmuh's mind, heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-11-10
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=48403