CK Hutchison; Panama Canal; national interests

[traineeinvestor]

Obviously I'm not privy to the legal documents, but I'd expect that when the deal was announced, the contracts created some binding obligations on both sides (with the usual wriggle room for satisfactory due diligence etc).

CKH Proceeds with Panama Port Sale as Slated: Wire

[Elefant&Castle]

Recounts some of Li Ka-shing's mainland ventures ...

https://archive.ph/UyJvd

[Shiojiri Hiro]

like most things china-related, i think its important to look past the 'obvious' issue at hand (ie Panama) and look through to the real underlying issue. Presumably it's that LKS is just too powerful an influence and therefore a threat to Party dominance and with his age, there isnt the same confidence in his kids. <Shrug>

Also - someone from CK might just have pissed off the wrong person in some random belt and road RFP somewhere and this is payback.

either way, it's more than just the panama issue...

[shri]

Officials in Beijing have told Chinese state-owned businesses to stop doing deals with Mr Li’s CK Hutchison conglomerate, which part-owns the Vodafone and Three network in the UK, amid growing anger over the ports sale to US investment giant BlackRock.

Mr Li’s group struck a $22.8bn (£17.6bn) deal to offload the terminals shortly after Mr Trump, the American president, said the US should “take back” the ports because of growing Chinese influence.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/beijing-p...171009143.html

[AsianXpat0]

https://www.thestandard.com.hk/break...ning-next-week

[bobly]

you would think LKS would have the know-how to at least pay some deference to China and use informal channels to get Beijing's nod. This isn't a new thing in Chinese politics and it's not like he dont know about mianzi.

[Elefant&Castle]

I think they are trying hard to stay out of politics, but he was more connected with Jiang Zemin in his mainland projects.Now that faction is gone and he has very little business in the mainland; about 14% of assets if I remember.

This kind of pressure isn't great - UK and Australia can't be thrilled about their water and energy infrastructure being owned by a company "under the influence". Makes it difficult for them to invest anywhere.

https://www.cki.com.hk/english/ourBu...home/index.htm

[Elefant&Castle]

ft

CK Hutchison is also under scrutiny from Panama’s auditor-general Anel Flores, who said this week his office was working “arduously” to complete an audit into the group’s two Panama port concessions in the coming days.


The audit is examining whether CK Hutchison has complied with the terms of the 25-year port concession, which was originally signed in 1997 and then extended for another 25 years in 2021. The concession is under scrutiny in Panama because of the relatively low returns it has generated for the state.

https://archive.ph/8VXvt

[bobly]

Just reading this news again, isn't it in China's interest to protest this now rather than later?

US has previously curtailed China growth in the US (tiktok, Huawei) but that was limited to the US (and perhaps EU in the case of Huawei)

Keeping in mind how US curtailed Japan in the 80s when everyone was scared of Japan taking over (we even had a film about it where Japanese exec had sex with and was responsible for gosh... killing a white American woman - "Rising Sun" which spoke to American fears at the time).

Now US is openly undoing China deals (albeit HK-company but HK is China) in Panama as if US was exercising Monroe Doctrine. Now arguably undoing (or "forcing a sale") is worse than merely blocking a deal. This is Tiktok again.

If China doesn't push back now, who knows where this leads. So is it surprising that Xi has finally come out and said no more.

[shri]

Hong Kong firm did not uphold Panama Canal ports contract: Panama audit - CNA

The subsidiary, called Panama Ports, benefited from many tax exemptions and also had irregularities in a previous audit that was used to justify an extension of the concession first awarded in 1997, said state comptroller Anel Flores.

"This is a very delicate issue," Flores told reporters, adding that he would file a complaint with prosecutors in the coming days over the unpaid concession fees.

The release of the audit results came hours before US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrived in Panama, which has come under strong pressure from Trump to reduce Chinese influence on the US-built canal.

No coincidence there...

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east...-audit-5050496