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Book Review: 'Global Passage' Chronicles History of Panama Canal Paul Crespo "Global Passage: Transformation of Panama and the Panama Canal" Author: Robert R. McMillan Publisher: BookSurge, LLC Robert McMillan, the former chairman of the Panama Canal Commission, offers an informative insider's look at one of the 10 remaining manmade wonders of the world — the Panama Canal. He also takes a hard look at China's growing influence over this strategic waterway.
With the former drug-dealing strongman of Panama, Manuel Noriega, scheduled to be released early from a maximum security federal prison in September 2007, McMillan's short but insightful book provides a timely background to Noriega's capture by U.S. forces in 1989. McMillan outlines the history of the canal from its momentous creation at the turn of the 20th century by Teddy Roosevelt, to Jimmy Carter's contentious and highly controversial Panama Canal Treaty that "surrendered" it to the Panamanians.
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He also covers the invasion of Panama by former President George H.W. Bush in 1989, and describes the transformation of Panama during the ensuing 16 years of democracy since Operation Just Cause.
"The Panama Canal is deeply embedded in the American psyche," says McMillan, "it signifies America's ingenuity and rise to global prominence. Over 200,000 people annually take cruise ships that specifically go to Panama simply to transit this historic waterway."
McMillan's own path to becoming the first non-Defense Department official to be elected chairman of the Canal Commission supplies little known details about the diplomacy, politics, and bureaucratic infighting involved in staffing such a strategic bi-national commission.
McMillan, who at the White House's request, ran for the U.S. Senate against Patrick Moynihan in 1988, was named by the former President Bush to the Canal Commission in 1989. After some interesting maneuvering inside the commission and both the U.S. and Panamanian governments, McMillan was elected chairman and served from 1993 to 1994.
He also illuminates the intrigue and negotiations of the 1977 Panama Canal Treaty which transferred control of the Canal to Panama in 1999. McMillan says that by not including a provision to maintain some U.S. troops in the Canal Zone (a provision 80 percent of Panamanians approved of at the time) Carter failed to protect American interests. "Carter did not have the guts to step up to the plate and push the issue," McMillan tells NewsMax. He just wanted a Treaty and appeased the nationalist Panamanian strongman Omar Torrijos to get it. While the Panamanians coordinate with the U.S. Coast Guard to defend the canal, it remains vulnerable to terrorist attack. "It's not the same as having a brigade of U.S. troops stationed there," says McMillan.
But McMillan doesn't just provide detailed insider history. He also describes the strategic importance of the canal and the challenges Panama faces in enlarging it in order to accommodate the thousands of ships that today are too large to transit the canal. While most ocean-going vessels today can pass through the canal, by the year 2011, approximately 37 percent of the world's container ship capacity will not. Among those ships that cannot, are many bulk carriers, supertankers as well as American aircraft carriers. Panama recently approved a $5.25 billion expansion of the canal, though McMillan believes the final cost will be much higher. This is critically important, says McMillan, because it will allow the transit of the largest American military vessels such as aircraft carriers, and it will also mean lower shipping costs for the U.S. cargo which currently makes up 68 percent of the canal's total traffic.
Ironically, it will be a huge boon for the communist Chinese and America's newest nemesis, Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, as well. The expansion will allow passage of vessels carrying three times as much Venezuelan oil to China, dramatically increasing Chavez's oil exports to China and lowering China's costs. Chavez is trying to lessen his reliance on U.S. markets by selling more oil to allies like China. Venezuela and China recently entered a deal to export 500,000 barrels of Venezuelan oil daily to China. All this oil will need to go through the canal.
In anticipation of the canal expansion, the Chinese firm Hutchison Whampoa's Panama Ports Company (PPC) already operates the ports of Cristobal and Balboa located at each end of the Panama Canal. China has announced plans to spend $1 billion expanding those existing port facilities.
The Chinese are clearly interested in expanding their influence in Panama and the rest of the region, and so is Chavez. "The U.S. should not allow the Chinese to finance or gain construction contracts for the canal expansion," warns McMillan. "Time is urgent," he adds, "decisions and bids will probably be made in the next six months." The U.S. government has not been proactive enough on this issue; it needs to bring the U.S. business community together to get involved." He argues that to get things moving we need to have at least Cabinet level interest and participation. "And there's a new ingredient now," says McMillan, "that's further complicating matters."
Though he denies it will compete with the Panama Canal, President Enrique Bolanos of Nicaragua has resurrected plans to build a canal through Nicaragua at a projected cost of $19 billion. No one knows what will happen now with this project with the recent election of former Marxist Sandinista Dictator Daniel Ortega as Nicaragua's new president. Will Ortega attract Chinese participation in that effort? McMillan sees that as another potential challenge for the U.S.
McMillan emphasizes that he does not believe the Chinese would disrupt the canal because they would take a "tremendous economic hit," but they do want to create a psychological image of economic muscle flexing in our backyard. "The Chinese controlling the Panama Canal would be like the Japanese owning Rockefeller Center in the 1980s," he says. While the prose is a bit awkward at times and the narrative is disjointed and does not flow as smoothly as one would like, this is a book by a senior practitioner and insider, not a writer. As such, McMillan's "Global Passage" will be useful reading for all those interested in knowing the behind-the-scenes details and inner workings of the many important issues related to the Panama Canal, past, present, and future.
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