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106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. J. RES. 77

Notifying the Government of Panama of the nullity of the Carter-Torrijos

treaties and recognizing the validity of the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty

with respect to control of the Panama Canal Zone.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NOVEMBER 9, 1999

Mrs. CHENOWETH-HAGE introduced the following joint resolution; which was

referred to the Committee on Armed Services

JOINT RESOLUTION

Notifying the Government of Panama of the nullity of the

Carter-Torrijos treaties and recognizing the validity of

the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty with respect to control

of the Panama Canal Zone.

Whereas the United States Canal in Panama, linking the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, is one of the most strategically

important naval choke points in the world, essential to

our national defense and vital to our economic well-being;

Whereas occupation, damage, or destruction of this crucial

waterway by a hostile power—whether an unfriendly

Panamanian Government, terrorist organization, or other

foreign government—could be calamitous to the United

States in time of war and disastrous to our economy even

in time of peace;
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Whereas the Republic of Panama does not have an army,

navy, air force, or other military or police capability adequate for the defense of such a strategic asset;

Whereas the communist government of the People’s Republic

of China has been pursuing an aggressive expansionist

agenda in Panama, the Caribbean, and Latin America,

while, at the same time carrying out a concerted and

much-publicized campaign of bribery and espionage

reaching to the highest offices of the United States;

Whereas Hutchison Whampoa, a front company for the People’s Liberation Army of China, utilizing corrupt practices, has acquired leases giving it control of the ports of

Cristobal and Balboa at the Atlantic and Pacific ends of

the Panama Canal, positioning the People’s Republic of

China for de facto control of the Canal;

Whereas the People’s Republic of China, through its agent,

Hutchison Whampoa, is also in the process of taking over

the Rodman Naval Station and other military facilities

being abandoned by the United States, and has the exclusive authority to hire the pilots who control all traffic

through the Canal;

Whereas the People’s Republic of China, a totalitarian regime, refers to the United States in its military literature

and official Communist Party statements as its ‘‘main

enemy’’ and has aligned itself with other communist regimes and terrorist states avowedly hostile to the United

States;

Whereas China expert Dr. Michael Pillsbury of the National

Defense University testified to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in September 1997 that the Chi-
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nese military officials have written extensively of their nation’s intention ‘‘to defeat the United States’’;

Whereas in spite of these manifest dangers, the Government

of the United States is pursuing a policy of transferring

possession, ownership, and control of the Panama Canal

and Canal Zone, which includes the United States military bases, to the Government of Panama, in accordance

with the 1977 Carter-Torrijos treaties, which were never

legally ratified by either the United States or Panama;

Whereas in their respective instruments of ratification, the

United States and Panama did not agree to the same

text of the treaties, and, in fact, each party stipulated to

conditions that are in fundamental conflict with, and mutually exclusive of, the demands of the other;

Whereas one of the most basic and universally accepted principles of international law concerning treaties holds that

the parties must agree to the same written text, or there

is no ‘‘meeting of the minds’’ and, thus no treaty;

Whereas Article 20.2 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the

Law of Treaties states unequivocally that ‘‘a reservation

requires acceptance by all the parties’’; and whereas the

‘‘Restatement of the United States Foreign Relations

Law’’ declares unambiguously that ‘‘If the other state

has made a reservation . . . the Senate . . . will take it

fully into account in acting on the treaty,’’ and, moreover, that ‘‘Senate consent to the acceptance of the reservation is required’’;

Whereas ratification of the Carter-Torrijos treaties by the

United States Senate was contingent upon the DeConcini

Reservation in the United States version guaranteeing
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the United States the right to use military force, with or

without Panama’s consent, to keep the Canal open;

Whereas the United States Senate was not informed that the

President of the United States had secretly agreed with

the regime of Omar Torrijos in Panama not to include

the essential DeConcini Reservation in Panama’s text

version; and, moreover, that the President of the United

States added further to this illegal and unconstitutional

action by secretly accepting Panama’s counter-reservation, which explicitly repudiates the DeConcini Reservation and subjects United States right of military intervention to ‘‘principles of mutual respect and cooperation’’;

Whereas these discrepancies in the treaty texts involve the

most substantive and fundamental contradictions imaginable affecting matters of the most serious import to

both the United States and Panama, and, thus, render

the ratifications by both parties invalid, null, and void;

Whereas additional serious violations of legal norms and the

Constitutions of both the United States and Panama also

render the Carter-Torrijos treaties of transfer and neutrality null and void, and, therefore, of no legal standing;

Whereas therefore, the original Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty of

1903 between the United States and Panama—under

which the United States legally purchased the Canal

Zone territory from Colombia, Panama, and private landowners, and then, at great cost, built the Panama Canal,

which has proved to be an enormous boon to the whole

world—remains legally in force;

Whereas the 1903 Treaty between the United States and

Panama grants the United States full sovereign rights
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over the Panama Canal and Canal Zone ‘‘in perpetuity’’,

and the United States Supreme Court has ruled (1907)

that the Canal Zone is indeed United States territory;

Whereas even the terms of the invalid Carter-Torrijos Neutrality Treaty have been violated, rendering that treaty

doubly void, in that Article V of the Neutrality Treaty

specifies use of defense sites by Panama only, but Panama is leasing defense sites to a partner of the merchant

marine arm of China’s People’s Liberation Army

(Hutchison Whampoa);

Whereas the President of the United States, in defiance of

both law and the national security and economic interests

of the United States, has proceeded, and is proceeding,

with the complete transfer of this vital, sovereign territory of the United States to Panama;

Whereas this transfer process is proceeding toward imminent

completion on December 31, 1999; and

Whereas treaties are legislative acts and, as officially noted

in Jefferson’s Manual and Rules of the House of Representatives, ‘‘Treaties being declared equally with the

laws of the United States, to be the supreme law of the

land, it is understood that an act of the legislature alone

can declare them infringed and rescinded’’: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives

2 of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 That notice is given to the Government of Panama of the

4 decree of nullity of the 1977 Carter-Torrijos treaties, and,

5 further, that the United States recognizes the Hay-
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1 Bunau-Varilla Treaty of 1903 has never been voided and

2 remains legally binding.

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