Trump ejects China from key American port

There long have been concerns about foreigners, especially governments, owning controlling interests in American trade and transportation facilities such as airports and container ports.

The Obama administration, nevertheless, announced with fanfare in 2012 its 40-year agreement with the Orient Overseas Container Line, a division of the COSCO Shipping Holdings Co. of China, to run the port of Long Beach.

At the time, Philip Chow, chairman of the board of OOCL, promised "many benefits that this project will bring to the city." And Chris Lytle of the Port of Long Beach said he could not ask for a "better partner."

"This is a really a big deal," Susan Wise, president of the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners, said back then.

However, government watchdog Judicial Watch said Wednesday the Trump adminstration reversing the deal with little notice.

Judicial Watch found only one local newspaper report of the Trump administration stepping in and requiring COSCO to sell its rights to the container terminal.

The news was buried at the bottom of the article, Judicial Watch said.

In its "Corruption Chronicles," Judicial Watch said the Obama administration "proudly" handed over control to the Chinese interests in 2012.

It is the second-largest container port in the U.S. behind the Port of Los Angeles.

"One of the Trump administration's first big moves was to get the Communists out of the Port of Long Beach," Judicial Watch said. "After a national security review and federal intervention, the Long Beach terminal business, which handles millions of containers annually, is finally being sold to an Australian company called Macquarie Infrastructure Partners.

"That essentially kills China’s decades-long contract with the Obama administration."

Judicial Watch said the deal "never should have been signed in the first place considering the facility’s size, significance and the national security issues associated with a hostile foreign government controlling it."

"The Southern California port is the premier U.S. gateway for trans-Pacific trade, according to its website, and handles trade valued at more than $194 billion annually," Judicial Watch said.

"It is one of the few ports that can accommodate the world’s largest vessels and serves 140 shipping lines with connections to 217 seaports around the world. The facility encompasses 3,200 acres with 31 miles of waterfront, 10 piers, 62 berths and 68 post-Panamax gantry cranes. In 2018, the Long Beach port handled more than 8 million container units, achieving the busiest year in its history."

Judicial Watch said that removing Chinese communists "from this essential port is a tremendous feat and a huge victory for U.S. national security."

"You’d never know it because the media, consumed with the impeachment debacle, has ignored this important achievement. The only coverage of the finalized transfer is found in Long Beach’s local newspaper, which published a brief article omitting important background information on the Trump administration’s work to take back the terminal from the Communists."

What could have happened had the Chinese continued to control the port?

"In the last few years China has bought cargo ports throughout the world, including in Latin America, the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Chinese-owned ports are located in Greece, Italy, Spain and other European locations. In sub-Saharan Africa there are dozens of existing or planned port projects funded or operated by China, according to a study that highlights the threat the Chinese investments present to U.S. influence in the region," Judicial Watch said.

"One troubling analysis points out that 'COSCO's commercial expansion has created leverage for Beijing — leverage that has already resulted in countries that host COSCO ports adopting China’s position on key international issues."

WND columnist Curtis Ellis wrote last year of China's "plan to build a vertical monopoly covering every stage of the Asia-to-U.S. export business."

But it was then that the Trump administration was becoming alarmed over the threats to national security from China's "supposedly 'commercial' investments."

"The Trump administration's National Security Strategy has made stopping China's appropriation of U.S. private-sector technology and technical knowledge a priority," Ellis found.