Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong’s richest man, controls CK Hutchison, a global conglomerate that until recently operated two strategic port terminals along the Panama Canal. But under growing pressure from US President Donald Trump, Li agreed to sell the assets—a move that has now angered China’s leadership.
On March 6, CK Hutchinson finalised a $22.8 billion deal to sell its global port assets, including the two Panama Canal terminals, to a consortium led by US investment giant BlackRock.
Trump praised the transaction, telling Congress, “My administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we’ve already started doing it.” Previously Trump claimed that China controls the canal, an artificial 82-kilometre (51-mile) waterway connecting the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean.
But the lucrative agreement roused the ire of Beijing. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Chinese President Xi Jinping was infuriated by the sale, which is seen as a geopolitical loss for China in a region of strategic importance.
After Hutchison’s Panama Canal deal, Chinese state-linked media condemned the deal, accusing Li, a 96-year-old billionaire, of betraying national interests. Li was born in Chao'an, Chaozhou in Guangdong Province, in mainland China and moved to Hong Kong in 1940 with his family as a refugee during the Sino-Japanese War during WWII.
While he is respected for his global business acumen–earning him the nickname ‘Superman’-- the Panama Canal deal has placed him in a rare political crossfire.
Ta Kung Pao, a pro-Beijing Hong Kong newspaper, ran scathing editorials suggesting the deal amounted to “betraying and selling off” Chinese interests. One article warned: “If Hong Kong companies turn a blind eye to this, it is tantamount to passing the knife to rivals at this strategic juncture.”
The commentary was republished on official websites linked to the Chinese Communist Party’s Hong Kong and Macao branches—signalling alignment with central government thinking.
Can Beijing stop the deal?
Though China is a one-party state, led by the Communist Party, its post 1990s economic reforms—shaped by former leader Deng Xiaoping—allow private firms a degree of autonomy. Yet for major cross-border transitions, especially those with geopolitical implications, Beijing expects some form of oversight or approval.
According to sources familiar with the Hutchison transaction, the company did not notify Beijing in advance about the sale, a move that reportedly caught top officials off guard and sparked Xi’s frustration.
Still, experts note that Hutchison is based in Hong Kong—a special administrative region—and the port assets in question are located outside both mainland China and Hong Kong. As such, Beijing’s leverage is limited. Blocking the deal could require costly political intervention and risks further alienating investors already wary of China’s tightening grip on Hong Kong.
“Who would dare to come to Hong Kong? If you don’t obey, don’t want to make a political sacrifice and don’t want to be a political tool, you will be criticised and persecuted. Who will come to invest?” said Lew Mong-hung, a former Chinese political adviser, referring to any kind of political operation against Li’s company that can backfire to Hong Kong businesses generally.
Going against Li, considered as a bridge man between the West and Beijing, might lead to more bad blood and mistrust between the Trump administration and the Chinese system, according to experts.
Is Trump right about Chinese influence?
The dust-up has renewed debate over Trump’s repeated claim that Beijing controls the waterway.
A top issue in his ambitious political agenda, Trump stated in his January inaugural speech: “Above all, China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.”
Critics have long pointed out that the canal is managed by the Panama Canal Authority— an independent body under the pro-US Panamanian government—and not by China or Chinese companies.
Still, China’s strong opposition to the Hutchison sale has given some analysts pause.
“China’s reaction to the deal implicitly concedes the Trump administration’s point that control of major ports, here just the Panama Canal, constitutes a security threat to the United States,” said Lester Ross, a legal expert working for law firm Wilmer Hale’s China operations.
CK Hutchison’s two terminals handle roughly 40 percent of container traffic through the waterway. Both Washington and Beijing see control over such infrastructure as crucial to securing supply chains and limiting strategic vulnerabilities. Experts warn that in a crisis, port operators could, in theory, deny access to rival nations’ vessels.
As the US and China vie for influence around the globe, even privately owned port terminals are becoming flashpoints in a larger power struggle.
