State Clueless On China's Plan To Bid On Panamanian Air Base

I spoke today with Greg Schiffer (phonetic) on the Panama Desk at the US State Department about China's intention to bid on a former US Air Force base in Panama.

"We would be concerned about that, but it's not on our radar screen," he told me. "Now that I know, I'll look into it."

Granted, Howard Air Force Base is being sold for "development," but I'm not sure the Panamanian government is specifically precluding the use of it as an air base. And I'm not sure if they've got the wherewithal to stop a country from using it as an airport/airbase -- especially if that country is China, which Panama is utterly dependent on, since it operates the ports at both ends of the canal.

So, does the word YIKES! come to mind? The Panamanians are scheduled to open bids on the purchase and redevelopment of the shuttered base on November 25, but do a Google search or a Nexis search and you get virtually no hits on this stealthy attempted invasion of the Western Hemisphere by the Chinese Commies.

Thanks to Carter and Clinton, the Chinese already operate Panama's ports. (See my former articles here and here.) Now they're reportedly competing against US, British and Mexican interests for Howard.

By way of background, here's what the news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported, tipping me off to the Howard AFB situation:

China is seeking to sabotage Taiwan's diplomatic ties with Panama by sending a delegation to Panama and bidding for the operation of a former U.S. military base, the Taiwan-based newspaper the China Times said on Sunday.

"A nine-member Chinese delegation led by Wang Yingfan, deputy head of the Chinese parliament's foreign affairs committee, is making a secret six-day visit to Panama," the report said in a dispatch from Panama City.

According to the report, Panama confirmed that the mainland Chinese China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC) was also bidding for the right to develop Panama's Howard Air Force Base, in competition with U.S., British and Mexican firms.

Panama Canal Authority will announce on November 25 the winner to develop 2,005 hectares of the 3,707-hectare base to build an industrial processing zone and a high-tech park.

More to come ...