WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Chairman Carlos Gimenez held the first hearing of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security of the 119th Congress to assess the expanding influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the Western Hemisphere.
The CCP’s strategic placement of ports and investments pose a direct threat to U.S. national security. This hearing marks the beginning of the subcommittee’s ongoing efforts to examine and counter Communist China’s attempts to undermine American interests.
Watch the full hearing HERE.
Watch a clip from Rep. Gimenez's line of questioning about the Panama Canal HERE.
Read Chairman Gimenez's opening statement as prepared for delivery below:
Good morning. I want to welcome everyone to the first hearing of the
Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security in the 119th
Congress.
As we begin this new Congress, it is only fitting that we turn our
attention to one of the most pressing national security threats facing the
United States today—the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) growing
presence in the Western Hemisphere.
In recent years, the PRC has steadily increased its footprint in key
maritime infrastructure across Latin America and the Caribbean, gaining
leverage over trade routes and extending its economic, political, and
military influence in our region.
Today’s hearing marks the beginning of a serious effort by this
Subcommittee to assess the scope of Beijing’s ambitions and determine
what steps must be taken to safeguard the homeland.
President Trump and Senior Officials in his Administration have rightly
warned about the security risks posed by Beijing’s malign investments,
particularly in ports near the Panama Canal, which has long served as an
essential artery for global commerce and U.S. naval operations.
Last week, in his first foreign trip as Secretary of State, Marco Rubio
reinforced that warning during a visit to Panama, where he made clear
that the PRC’s presence near the canal poses an unacceptable risk. These
concerns are well-founded.
Through state-owned enterprises such as China Merchants Port
Holdings, Hutchison Port Holdings, and China Ocean Shipping
Company (COSCO Shipping), the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has
secured access to some of the most strategically significant ports in our
region.
Nowhere is this more concerning than in Panama. Approximately 14
percent of all U.S. seaborne trade moves through the Panama Canal,
with an even more significant 40 percent of U.S. container traffic
transiting it annually.
Hutchinson Ports, a subsidiary of Hutchison Port Holdings Limited, a
Hong Kong-headquartered company with close ties to the CCP, manages
container terminals at two of the largest ports adjacent to the canal.
These container terminals are located at the Port of Balboa on the Pacific
side and the Port of Cristóbal on the Atlantic side.
This gives Beijing a strategic position over one of the world’s most
important waterways and provides the CCP with the opportunity to exert
influence over commercial shipping, gather intelligence on American
and allied vessel traffic, and potentially restrict the mobility of our Navy
in a time of crises.
And while Panama has recently announced an audit of Hutchison Ports,
that is simply not enough. We do not need an audit. We need action.
The United States cannot and will not accept a scenario where a foreign
adversary—one that openly seeks to undermine our global standing—
controls infrastructure critical to U.S. homeland security, military
readiness, and economic stability.
For more than two centuries, under the principles of the Monroe
Doctrine, the United States has been the primary guarantor of stability
and security in the Western Hemisphere, ensuring that trade routes vital
to our economic security remain free from foreign adversarial
dominance.
Yet today, the CCP is aggressively working to change that reality.
However, Panama is only part of the larger picture. Across the
hemisphere, the PRC is securing port investments and critical
infrastructure agreements in countries such as Cuba, Peru, Brazil, and
Ecuador, among others.
In Communist Cuba, just ninety miles from my home district in South
Florida, the PRC has expanded its economic and signals intelligence
capabilities through facility development agreements and
telecommunications investments. This raises serious concerns about
Beijing’s ability to conduct surveillance against the United States from
inside our own backyard.
In Peru, the PRC is transforming the Port of Chancay into a major trade
hub for its exports to South America. This is more than an economic
project. It strengthens the PRC’s malign economic influence and grip
over regional trade and could allow for dual-use capabilities that support
future People's Liberation Army Navy operations in the Pacific.
The implications of these investments for U.S. homeland security cannot
be ignored.
The PRC's expanding presence in Latin America has also exacerbated
the illicit flow of goods, including precursor chemicals used to
manufacture fentanyl.
These chemicals fuel drug production and trafficking networks run by
the cartels that send deadly narcotics into American communities. The
CCP is complicit in this crisis, which has taken the lives of thousands of
Americans and overwhelmed law enforcement at our Southwest border.
Alarmingly, these same PRC state-owned enterprises also continue to
operate in U.S. ports today, which poses grave intelligence and security
risks. A prime example is COSCO Shipping, which the Department of
Defense recently placed on its Section 1260H list of "Chinese military
companies," due to its ties to the PRC’s military, intelligence, and
security apparatus.
Less than a month ago, federal authorities arrested nine individuals for
their role in a massive smuggling operation that allegedly funneled
nearly $200 million of counterfeit and illicit goods from the PRC into
the United States through the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
This is the kind of illicit activity that takes place when we allow foreign
adversaries, including those operating under the direction of the CCP, to
gain access to our nation’s critical infrastructure.
The message to our partners in the Western Hemisphere must be clear. If
you want to benefit from security cooperation and economic partnership
with the United States, you must distance yourselves from PRC state-owned enterprises.
The CCP has no rightful place in shaping the economic and security
landscape of our region.
I want to thank our witnesses for appearing before the Subcommittee
today.
I look forward to a productive discussion on how we can enhance
America's security in response to the PRC’s increasing presence and
influence in the Western Hemisphere.
###