Panama ports deal of strategic importance, say Hong Kong political heavyweights
‘Not easy’ for Hong Kong or mainland Chinese firms to take part in ‘some strategic projects’, NPC Standing Committee member Starry Lee says
Hong Kong political heavyweights have raised concerns over a plan by Li Ka-shing’s CK Hutchison Holdings to sell its Panama Canal port operations, saying the deal should not be viewed purely through a commercial lens as the businesses are strategically important to the nation.
The warnings on Saturday piled pressure on Li’s flagship company after two Beijing offices overseeing Hong Kong affairs posted two scathing commentaries on their websites criticising the deal.
The company has remained silent since revealing on March 4 the surprise deal to sell its overseas port assets, including operations at each end of the Panama Canal, to a consortium led by US investment firm BlackRock for US$23 billion. The deal will generate US$19 billion in cash for CK Hutchison.
United States President Donald Trump hailed BlackRock’s deal, saying Washington would be “reclaiming” the canal from Chinese control. CK Hutchison came under intense pressure over its Panama operations when Trump retook the White House in January.
In announcing the deal, the company said the transaction was “purely commercial in nature and wholly unrelated to recent political news reports concerning the Panama ports”.
But Starry Lee Wai-king, the city’s sole delegate to the nation’s top legislative body, said companies would find making “pure commercial decisions” difficult in the current environment as politics and business were intertwined.