Help Catalonia : Panama Canal fiasco confirms Spain as clear and present threat

a Saturday, January 04, 2014

Whoever chose a Spanish company to lead the consortium working to enlarge the Panama Canal must clearly be regretting it, following Sacyr's announcement that they were suspending the work to press for additional payments. This is no mere commercial dispute, rather, we are talking about a key infrastructure essential for Japan's national security. Tokyo needs a larger Panama Canal at least for two key reasons. First of all, to facilitate the quick movement of US and Allied naval assets from the Atlantic and the Pacific. Second, to open the way to natural gas exports from America, facilitating the diversification of Japan's energy mix in the wake of Fukushima and lesser reliance on SLOCs (Sea Lines of Communication) going through the South China Sea.

Right now, only some 6% of the world's LNG (liquefied natural gas) tankers can use the Panama Canal. The expansion was designed to raise this percentage to 90%. A bigger canal would enable American natural gas to be conveniently shipped to Asian markets. In a gangster-style thinly-veiled threat, a Sacyr spokesman told Foreign Policy that “If the customer doesn't provide additional funds to cover the unexpected costs, the project will soon face a cash crunch”. According to that publication, the Spanish company has told the Canal Authority to come up with extra cash within three weeks or face a halt to the expansion work.

Madrid's slow response to reports of trouble in the expansion work shows once again how, despite being an EU and NATO member state, Spain is as always the odd man out. Spanish leaders do not seem to recognize the need to ensure quick and flexible naval deployments plus the positive impact of the US going from net energy importer to exporter. Why is that? Not least among the causes is the fact that, while the maritime democracies see their Armed Forces as designed to counter revisionist powers and asymmetric threats like maritime terrorists and pirates, this is irrelevant for Madrid, only obsessed with Catalonia and Gibraltar. The Spanish Government has persistently sought to disrupt life in the Rock, as a reprisal for Gibraltar's refusal to be absorbed. At the same time, Madrid has refused to rule out resorting to force to prevent the coming 11/9 referendum in Catalonia, and has not punished any of the different military officers and politicians who have openly advocating staging a coup to prevent Catalans from going to the polls.

As a result, while Allied nations have been deploying in the Philippines to bring succour to the victims of Haiyan / Yolanda, Spain has been using her naval assets to harass Gibraltar and to persecute Catalan fishermen not flying the Spanish flag. Madrid has not uttered a single word against Beijing's East-China Sea ADIZ (Air Defense Identification Zone), while some Spanish commentators went as far as suggesting seeking China's support to conquer Gibraltar, in exchange for allowing Beijing to use her as a naval base.

In the case of Japan, Madrid persists in supporting China's claim on the Senkaku Islands, as well as in speaking out in favour of Buenos Aires' demands for the Falklands. Time and again, Spain sides with aggressors, never with the maritime democracies. Her naval assets are simply not available to support the rule of law at sea in the Indian-Pacific Ocean Region, they are simply too busy harassing those who want out (Catalonia) and those who do not want in (Gibraltar). To add insult to injury, Madrid has launched a campaign against Portugal, claiming before the UN that the Savage Islands are not true islands but rocks under UNCLOS, meaning they give rise to no EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone), thereby providing indirect support for similar Chinese claims against Japan concerning Okinotorishima.

Now, if Spain's Rajoy administration wants to prove that his country is indeed a maritime democracy, and not simply a Trojan Horse or Europe's North Korea, as some are calling her, there are some steps that it must take at once:

a) Guarantee that the Spanish company heading the consortium upgrading the Panama Canal will complete the work on time. This will allow US natural gas exports to Asia, and Allied naval movements between the Pacific and the Atlantic, to proceed unimpeded.

b) Stop employing military assets against civilians and Allies, devoting them instead to collective security





and the promotion, together with partners and Allies, of international peace and security and the rule of law at sea. This should provide the added benefit of releasing Royal Navy units currently tasked with the protection of Gibraltar.

c) Cease and desist in providing diplomatic support to expansionist powers claiming islands and threatening and actually employing force to conquer them.

d) Support, by both military and diplomatic means, initiatives designed to bring maritime democracies closer, ensure the non-violent settlement of territorial disputes, freedom of navigation, and the rule of law at sea.

e) Contribute, rather than damage, security in the Mediterranean, making a positive contribution to NATO and thereby helping the Atlantic Alliance contribute to the US “Pivot to the Pacific”.

f) Withdraw the claim against Portugal under UNCLOS concerning the Savage Islands.

g) Explicitly rule out employing force to prevent Catalan voters from going to the polls on 11/9.

Unless the Spanish Government, under Mariano Rajoy, takes all these steps, beginning with a clear message to Sacyr that no disruption to the expansion of the Panama Canal will be tolerated or condoned, the time will have come for the international community to reconsider Spain's place within it. To begin with, the maritime democracies must reject Madrid's bid to join the United Nations Security Council in 2015-2016. There is no place for Trojan Horses at the UN Security Council.

Alex Calvo, an expert on Asian security and defence, is currently guest professor at Nagoya University (Japan) 


http://www.helpcatalonia.cat/2014/01/panama-canal-fiasco-confirms-spain-as.html