WASHINGTON, D.C. –– Today, Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security, delivered the following opening statement in a hearing entitled “Examining the PRC’s Strategic Port Investments in the Western Hemisphere and the Implications for Homeland Security, Part I.” 

Watch Chairman Gimenez’s full opening statement here.

As prepared for delivery:

Good morning. I want to welcome everyone to the first hearing of the Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security in the 119^th 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 securityrisks 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. homelandsecurity, 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.

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