The deal contained traces of a Hong Kong billionaire known as “Superman” for the imperial building. One of the big names that has operated two ports on the Panama Canal for many years has entered a wider showdown between China and the US.
So billionaire Li Ka-shing has stepped out of the shooting line by trading $19 billion and selling his business to a group of deep American investors.
Or was it that way?
Chinese leaders are now threatening to stop Li and CK Hutchison, the company he manages.
The showdown will test how far Xi Jinping, the top leader in China, is willing to exercise control of his business in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, was returned to China in 1997, and Beijing’s promises primarily to leave the city, allowing it to maintain a free capitalist system, although it remains a bridge to China. Li embodied that distinction as a Chinese entrepreneur who slammed Western investors to build an empire that includes property, shipping and communications.
Beijing’s potential intervention in port contracts between CK Hutchison and the BlackRock-led group was described by prominent financial operators and business leaders in Hong Kong. It could also destroy Xi Jinping’s Golden Goose at a critical moment for the Chinese economy.
Hong Kong’s stock market is on fire after recording losses over four of the last five years. This is a sign of enthusiasm for the Chinese economy. Chinese companies have chosen Hong Kong to London or New York to list their stocks. We provide points to Mr. XI that we can boast about. Since President Trump’s inauguration on January 20th, the S&P 500 has fallen by about 5%, while Hong Kong’s stock market has risen by more than 20%.
Lawyers and regulatory experts generally believe that Hong Kong or Beijing authorities are reluctant to stop the transaction. But simply the possibility is putting Hong Kong on the edge. That proxy in Beijing and in the media has kept its almost a day’s chunk of criticism.
Commentary last week in Ta Kung Pao, a Chinese government-owned newspaper, called the agreement between CK Hutchison and BlackRock “seeking profits, unjustice” and “national security.” The Beijing government agency overseeing Hong Kong’s policy has reposted its comments on its website. On Tuesday, Hong Kong’s top leader John Lee piled up the deal saying it needed “serious attention.”
Hu Xijin, former editor of the Communist Party’s tabloid Global Times, said CK Hutchison “should settle down first and adjust to China’s national interests.”
The attempts by Hong Kong and Beijing to stop the contract are extraordinary. Chinese companies often have to ask regulators for permission to move money from mainland China. CK Hutchison operates ports around the world, including China, but the 43 ports that are part of the BlackRock trade are not in China. CK Hutchison’s shares are not listed in mainland China.
CK Hutchison declined to comment. BlackRock did not respond to requests for comment.
CK Hutchison’s chairman (and son of Li Ka-Shing), Victor Li, said Thursday in a statement in a statement following a revenue release that CK Hutchison’s business environment could be “unstable and unpredictable” this year.
The light corn and warnings piled up on CK Hutchison are reminiscent of “criticism of a cultural revolutionary style” that scares foreign investors, said former Chinese political adviser Lou Mong Han.
“Who’s coming to Hong Kong?” said Lu, a former finance expert. “If you don’t follow, you don’t want to make political sacrifices and become a political tool, you’ll be criticized and persecuted. Who will you become invested?”
Chunking Chong, a professor of media ethics at Hong Kong Baptist University and former editor of the Hong Kong Journal of Economics, wrote this week that he is a former editor of the Hong Kong Journal of Economics. This week, the rise in Beijing interventions in the city’s business community has been plagued with patriotism through comments and visits made by Chinese civil servants to business leaders.
Beijing’s attention to the Panama Canal contract was just another example of “a great entrepreneur having to be a patriot,” writes Chang. “It has proven that the era in which Hong Kong companies considered issues purely based on economic or commercial interests is over,” he added.
Concerns among business leaders have fallen at the heart of the questions Hong Kong faces. Is the company free to make its business decisions, or should it consider China’s broader national interests, just like Chinese companies in mainland China?
For many, the answer determines whether Hong Kong works separately from the rest of China. Free speech and Hong Kong’s autonomy in civil society have already been eroded after the outdoor closure of local media. The arrest of Hong Kong newspaper publisher Jimmy Lye. And then the arrests and trials of dozens of democratic leaders.
“Tracing Jimmy Lye and Apple every day is one thing, but chasing ‘Superman’ KS LI and his company is another thing.
For Beijing and its supporters, the Trump administration has already politicized business transactions, hampered investment and imposed tariffs in the name of national security. In the opinion article, former Chinese tabloid editor Hu argued that former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. also did this when his administration halted deals between Japanese and American steel in Japan.
He added that Beijing has reason to worry. The Trump administration hopes to “charge additional fees for Chinese ships that arrive at ports and collide with China’s shipbuilding and shipping industries.” ”
Others argued that China’s accusations of CK Hutchison, who appears to be unacting in China’s national interests, effectively ratified Trump’s original claim that the company was controlled by China.
“China’s response to this deal implicitly acknowledges the Trump administration’s point that controls the major ports, here, only the Panama Canal constitutes a security threat to the United States,” said Leicester Ross, a partner in the law firm’s Beijing office.
“It could also make Hong Kong’s business community even closer under Beijing’s thumb.”
