In Washington DC they call it 'hardball'. The rough and tumble of Congressional politics where interests, ambitions and motivations are myriad and often never fully clear. Tomorrow Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa could find itself at the centre of events far beyond its control as the Senate Armed Services Committee stages a hearing into hotly denied claims of creeping mainland control over the Panama canal. Insiders feel a rough few weeks lie ahead before Hutchison is left to shore-up its reputation. Others fear it is merely the start of a deeply worrying trend that shows the extent to which Hong Kong is 'written off' by some American elites as merely part of China. At issue is a contract Hutchison won in 1997 to operate the Cristobal and Balboa container ports at the Pacific and Atlantic entrances to the highly strategic shipping lane. Hutchison has found itself thrust under the spotlight just as the United States completes its pull-out from the canal in December under a 1977 treaty signed by former president Jimmy Carter - a deal that has long inspired Republican distaste. The fact that Hutchison is the world's largest operator of container ports has been lost in a gathering storm of right-wing Republican Party concern over China and a renewed attempt to embarrass the Clinton administration. 'Hutchison has quite unwittingly it seems found itself at the centre of a most unfortunate turn of events,' one Asian diplomat monitoring the situation said. 'We have never seen anything quite like this but ultimately it should blow over. It could bring some short-term pain to Hong Kong.' First came a report tucked away in a far-right magazine three months ago that claimed the firm was part of a grand scheme to give Beijing a 'choke hold' on the water-way. The Insight report described Hutchison chairman Li Ka-shing as 'an important cog in the economic machinery' of the mainland's Communist Party and military and the firm itself as an 'arm' of the PLA. Despite swift and sharp denials from the Pentagon, the State Department and White House, not to mention Hutchison itself, the report has been echoed extensively by such figures as Senate Majority leader Trent Lott - the figure who demanded Friday's hearing - and Admiral Thomas Moorer, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 'Hutchison-Whampoa control countless ports around the world. My specific concern is that the company is controlled by the communist Chinese,' Mr Moorer stated recently. 'And they have virtually accomplished, without a single shot being fired, a stronghold on the Panama Canal.' Caspar Weinberger, Ronald Reagan's hawkish former defence secretary, has kept the flames burning with a recent commentary in Forbes magazine, dismissing the administration's efforts to play down any security fears. Mr Weinberger is due to testify on Friday and is expected to reiterate his concern that Hutchison's 25-year concession is the 'biggest threat' to the canal's future security. Others are expected to demand that the US pressure the new Panamanian government to scrap and re-open the tender Hutchison won. At this point things start getting a little more complicated. As Hutchison's US$200 million (HK1.55 billion) port expansions come on stream in 2001, they will start to compete head-to-head with US firms now dominating the trade. Taiwan's Evergreen is also involved in the canal. One of the firms Hutchison competed against in the four-round tender meanwhile was Bechtel, one of the world's largest engineering and construction firms then eyeing its first move into the canal. Privately owned, Bechtel is frequently described as highly secretive despite its size and scope - it has extensive links in both Hong Kong and the rest of China - and boasts solid connections in Washington. Mr Reagan's former secretary of state, George Schulz, is on the board and Mr Weinberger served as chief counsel from 1975 to 1980. Bechtel insists Mr Weinberger has nothing to do with the firm now and says the company is not involved in the case against Hutchison, having pulled out before the final tender round. 'We are following developments in Washington closely,' a Bechtel spokesman said. 'In the development business we support tender activities that are as transparent as possible. This is good for everybody.' A report by the Federal Maritime Commission and sent to Mr Lott ahead of Friday's hearing, described the tender as 'unorthodox and irregular' by US standards but ultimately fair. The report says it is unlikely Hutchison will hold a long-term monopoly over Pacific coast operations or pose any immediate threat to US shippers. For Hutchison, however, such details are lost in the current storm. 'We know this could get a little worse before it gets better,' one senior Hutchison official said. 'But ultimately we are confident that we are dealing with a tiny minority of political opinion here - an influential one perhaps - but one that ultimately will go nowhere. 'There is a lot more to all this than meets the eye . . . but that is business. We are in a competitive arena.' Greg Torode is the Post's Washington correspondent