Li Ka-shing: The businessman who put Xi Jinping in check with the sale of his Panama Canal operations

Chinese authorities on Wednesday again criticized Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison, owned by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing for selling its ports located in the Panama Canal.

After selling its port business for $19.billion to the US consortium BlackRock, including the ports of Balboa and Cristobal on the Pacific and Atlantic ends of the canal, the owner of CK Hutchinson finds himself in the middle of the geopolitical tension existing between China and the United States.

China helplessly tries to thwart Panama canal deal

Consequently, Beijing's response was swift. The editorial of the Ta Kung Paok newspaper, affectionate to China's communist regime, assured that there will be serious consequences if the CK Hutchison group continues along this "bad path."

For the pro Xi Jinping media, the agreement to sell Panama ports to the BlackRock-led investment group should not be considered a normal business decision for national security reasons as it affects China's "New Silk Roads" initiative.

According to reports from Bloomberg News, several Chinese agencies, including the State Administration for Market Regulation, are now examining the deal to detect possible security or antitrust violations.

Faced with the impotence felt by Xi Jinping's communist regime, senior Chinese officials have ordered state-owned companies not to do business with Li Ka-shing. According to Bloomberg, the instruction was issued last week and affects only new deals.

Port sale made possible by Trump

According to CK Hutchison, the "definitive documentation" for the sale should be signed on April 2 and has decided not to respond publicly to criticism of the sale.

The Panama Canal deal came after weeks of pressure from US President Donald Trump, who did not want to rule out a military intervention to "regain" control of that important waterway and of great economic importance to the United States.

In early February Trump said at a press conference that "China is managing the Panama Canal that was not given to China, that was given to Panama foolishly." According to the president, the Chinese "violated the agreement, and we are going to get it back or something very powerful is going to happen."

The Panama Ports Company, a subsidiary of CK Hutchison, has operated two of the five Panama Canal ports since 1997 thanks to a public concession.