The Chinese Communist Party has been furious over Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s deal to sell Panama Canal ports to a consortium of investors that includes BlackRock, following pressure from President Trump as the US moves to bolster hemispheric defense—a massive security effort in which Panama plays a critical role.
A new report from the South China Morning Post said Friday morning that Li’s flagship CK Hutchison Holdings, “will not go ahead with the expected signing of a deal next week to sell its two strategic ports at the Panama Canal … with Beijing saying it will launch an antitrust probe into the sale.”
There were multiple reports this week that Beijing was tightening the screws on Li’s CK Hutchison to stop the sale to BlackRock next week.
In one such report, The Telegraph noted, “Chinese authorities have effectively blacklisted CK Hutchison and the business interests of the Li family by telling Chinese state-backed firms they will struggle to get regulatory approval for any work involving the group.”
Here’s more from SCMP’s report:
Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing’s CK Hutchison Holdings will not go ahead with the expected signing of a deal next week to sell its two strategic ports at the Panama Canal, the Post has learned, with Beijing saying it will launch an antitrust probe into the sale.
The State Administration for Market Regulation said on Friday it was looking into CK Hutchison’s US$23 billion deal to sell 45 ports spread over 23 countries to a consortium led by United States investment firm BlackRock.
The investigation was announced after pro-Beijing media Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao asked whether the deal required approval from the country’s antitrust review.
“We have noticed this transaction, and will review it in accordance with the law to ensure fair competition in the market and safeguard the public interest,” a spokesman from the anti-monopoly department under market regulator said in a written reply.
The watchdog did not reveal when the investigation would be launched.
The department is responsible for conducting antitrust reviews and providing guidance to companies over their response to mitigate risk and ensure compliance overseas.
What’s evident is that the sale of the Panama ports, including Balboa and Cristobal on either of the canals, to the consortium that includes BlackRock has put the HK billionaire in the direct firing line of the CCP.
CK Hutchison has denied the sale was politically motivated, while HK newspapers slammed the deal, calling it “a spineless kneeling, profit-seeking and unrighteous act, ignoring national interests and national justice, and betraying and selling out all Chinese people.”
The HK paper Ta Kung Pao warned that BlackRock could charge “special docking fees” to Chinese commercial ships and “suppress China’s development” in the region.
More broadly, the CCP is expected to fight tooth and nail to block Trump’s hemispheric strategy in the Americas—from Canada to Greenland to Panama. But this will only push Trump to escalate the trade war until the communists in Beijing say “uncle.”
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