Trump
administration forces China to sell the Port of Long Beach, By Chriss Street,
5/7/19, American Thinker.
China operates six of the world's ten busiest container
ports. The Chinese government has also funded the construction and
operations of 43 ports in 35 countries under its "One Belt and One
Road" (OBOR) initiative launched five years ago, according to China's
Ministry of Transport.
The
Trump Administration's Department of Homeland Security has forced China's
state-owned Cosco* to sell the Port of Long Beach over security concerns.
China's
Cosco Shipping Holdings, which bought out its 75 percent–owned Hong Kong–based
Orient Overseas International (OOCL), was forced to sell its Port of Long Beach Container
Terminal ownership to Macquarie Infrastructure Partners for $1.78 billion.
The
Obama administration had no problems with OOCL signing a 40-year lease with the City of Long Beach in
2012 for control of America's second largest and most automated container
handling operation. The sweetheart deal was part of the "Middle
Harbor Redevelopment Program" to fund a $1.5-billion expansion
through 2020.
But
one of the first major actions of the Trump administration's Department of
Homeland Security in March 2017 was issuing a "Committee on Foreign
Investment in the U.S."
national security hold on Cosco's acquisition of a former U.S. Navy port
facility.
As
part of its efforts to gain asset dominance, China has directed its state-owned
companies to exclusively buy products and services from other Chinese
state-owned enterprises. As a result, China International Marine
Containers Group has become the world's largest maker of shipping containers
and Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries has gained a 70 percent international
market share for port cranes, and now exports to 300 ports in 100 countries.
Under
the Macquarie acquisition terms, Orient Overseas International will pocket
a $1.29 billion profit and still control vessel and rail
traffic at the container facilities for the next twenty years.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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