When politics overrides contracts

This is a blatant betrayal of contractual principles. On January 28, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese openly declared that the Chinese-operated Port of Darwin should be taken back. Just one day later, Panama's Supreme Court abruptly ruled that contracts for Chinese-operated ports at the Panama Canal were "unconstitutional". Is this really a coincidence? Behind both moves lies sustained pressure from the United States.

Since 2015, China's Landbridge Group has invested over one billion Australian dollars to upgrade the port, boosting annual throughput from five million tons to more than 30 million tons and significantly enhancing its commercial value. But now Australia suddenly wants to tear the contract up — not for economic reasons, but for political calculations under sustained US pressure.

Panama's so-called "judicial ruling" is even more revealing. Before the court decision, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Panama, openly warning its government to distance itself from China and explicitly expressing Washington's dissatisfaction with Chinese-operated ports along the Panama Canal.

Washington wants to wrest profitable, well-run ports away from Chinese companies, turning other people's investments into its own gains. This is not competition. This is commercial plunder. And it is a textbook display of American hegemony.