{"id":4802,"date":"2025-03-21T00:52:36","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T04:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/2025\/03\/21\/who-will-come-to-invest-chinas-attacks-on-panama-canal-deal-alarm-hong-kong\/"},"modified":"2025-03-21T00:52:36","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T04:52:36","slug":"who-will-come-to-invest-chinas-attacks-on-panama-canal-deal-alarm-hong-kong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/2025\/03\/21\/who-will-come-to-invest-chinas-attacks-on-panama-canal-deal-alarm-hong-kong\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Who Will Come to Invest?\u2019 China\u2019s Attacks on Panama Canal Deal Alarm Hong Kong"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The deal had the imprint of a Hong Kong billionaire nicknamed \u201cSuperman\u201d for his empire building. One of the tycoon\u2019s companies, which for years has run two ports on the Panama Canal, had been thrust into a broader showdown between China and the United States.<\/p>\n

So the billionaire, Li Ka-shing, got out of the firing line by notching a $19 billion deal to sell the business to a group of deep-pocketed American investors.<\/p>\n

Or so it seemed.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s leaders are now threatening to stop Mr. Li and the company he controls, CK Hutchison, from seeing the deal through, accusing the conglomerate of betraying Beijing.<\/p>\n

The face-off tests how far Xi Jinping, China\u2019s top leader, is willing to go to exercise his control over business in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n

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A former British colony, Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997 with Beijing\u2019s promise it would mostly leave the city to govern itself, allowing it to remain a bridge to China but keep a system of freewheeling capitalism. Mr. Li, as a Chinese entrepreneur who tapped investors in the West to build an empire that included property, shipping and telecommunications, embodied that distinction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n

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Beijing\u2019s potential intervention in the port deal between CK Hutchison and a group led by BlackRock now endangers the separation, prominent financiers and business leaders in Hong Kong said. It could also destroy Mr. Xi\u2019s golden goose at a critical moment for China\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

After recording losses in four of the past five years, Hong Kong\u2019s stock market is on fire \u2014 a sign of enthusiasm for China\u2019s economy. Chinese companies are choosing Hong Kong over London or New York to list their shares. It offers Mr. Xi a bragging point: Since President Trump\u2019s inauguration on Jan. 20, the S&P 500 has fallen about 5 percent while Hong Kong\u2019s stock market is up more than 20 percent.<\/p>\n

Lawyers and regulatory experts generally believe that the authorities in Hong Kong or Beijing will be reluctant to stop the deal \u2014 and it is not clear that there is much they can do. But the mere possibility has put Hong Kong on edge. Beijing and its proxies in the media have kept up a near-daily drumbeat of criticism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n

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Commentaries last week in Ta Kung Pao, a newspaper owned by the Chinese government, called the agreement between CK Hutchison and BlackRock \u201cprofit seeking and unrighteous\u201d and a matter of \u201cnational security.\u201d The Beijing government agency that overseas Hong Kong policy reposted the comments on its website. On Tuesday, Hong Kong\u2019s top leader, John Lee, piled on to say the deal required \u201cserious attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hu Xijin, a former editor of the Communist Party tabloid Global Times, said CK Hutchison \u201cfirst needs to be calm and coordinate with China\u2019s national interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Any attempt by Hong Kong or Beijing to stop the deal would be extraordinary. Chinese companies must often seek permission from regulators to move their money out of mainland China. CK Hutchison operates ports worldwide, including in China, but none of the 43 ports that are part of the BlackRock deal are in China. CK Hutchison\u2019s shares are not listed in mainland China.<\/p>\n

CK Hutchison declined to comment. BlackRock did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Victor Li, the chairman of CK Hutchison (and son of Li Ka-shing), said on Thursday in a statement accompanying an earnings release that the environment for CK Hutchison\u2019s businesses could be \u201cboth volatile and unpredictable\u201d this year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n

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The scorn and warnings heaped on CK Hutchison are reminiscent of \u201cCultural Revolution-style criticism\u201d that will scare off foreign investors, said Lew Mong-hung, a former Chinese political adviser.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWho would dare to come to Hong Kong?\u201d said Mr. Lew, a former finance professional. \u201cIf you don\u2019t obey, don\u2019t want to make a political sacrifice and don\u2019t want to be a political tool, you will be criticized and persecuted. Who will come to invest?\u201d<\/p>\n

Chan King Cheung, a professor of media ethics at Hong Kong Baptist University and a former chief editor of the Hong Kong Economic Journal, wrote in a Hong Kong newspaper this week that the increasing intervention by Beijing in the city\u2019s business community \u2014 through comments and visits made by Chinese officials to pressure business leaders to be patriotic \u2014 was a sign that it was getting harder to detach Hong Kong companies from Chinese politics.<\/p>\n

The attention Beijing has put on the Panama Canal deal was just another example that \u201c\u2018great\u2019 entrepreneurs must be patriots,\u201d Mr. Chan wrote. \u201cIt has been proven that the days when Hong Kong companies considered issues purely based on economic or commercial interests are over,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The concern among business leaders cuts to the heart of the question facing Hong Kong: Are its companies free to make their own business decisions, or must they consider China\u2019s broader national interests as do mainland Chinese firms?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n

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For many, the answer will determine whether Hong Kong can still operate separately from the rest of China. Hong Kong\u2019s autonomy in free speech and civil society has already been eroded after the shutdown of local media outlets; the arrest of Jimmy Lai, a Hong Kong newspaper publisher; and the arrests and trials of dozens of pro-democracy leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one thing to go after Jimmy Lai and Apple Daily, but quite another to go after \u2018Superman\u2019 KS Li and his companies, the most successful international business H.K. has ever produced,\u201d said Mark L. Clifford, a former board member at Mr. Lai\u2019s Next Digital and president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

To Beijing and its supporters, the Trump administration has already politicized business transactions, thwarting investment and imposing tariffs in the name of national security. In an opinion article, Mr. Hu, the former Chinese tabloid editor, argued that former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. also did this when his administration stopped a deal between Japan\u2019s Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n

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Beijing has reason to be concerned, he added. The Trump administration \u201cwants to use the ports to charge extra fees to Chinese ships arriving at the port and hit China\u2019s shipbuilding and shipping industries.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n

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Others argued that China\u2019s condemnation of CK Hutchison for supposedly not acting in China\u2019s national interests has effectively ratified Mr. Trump\u2019s original claim that the company was controlled by China.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina\u2019s reaction to the deal implicitly concedes the Trump administration\u2019s point that control of major ports, here just the Panama Canal, constitutes a security threat to the United States,\u201d said Lester Ross, the partner in charge of the Beijing office of the law firm Wilmer Hale.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may also bring the Hong Kong business community as a whole even more tightly under Beijing\u2019s thumb.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The deal had the imprint of a Hong Kong billionaire nicknamed \u201cSuperman\u201d for his empire building. One of the tycoon\u2019s companies, which for years has run two ports on the Panama Canal, had been thrust into a broader showdown between China and the United States. So the billionaire, Li Ka-shing, got out of the firing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-market","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}