Hong Kong business firm CK Hutchison caught in the U.S.-Panama crossfire

Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing's business empire faces scrutiny over Chinese influence on Panama Canal operations.

A sprawling business empire built by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing is caught in the crossfire as the extent of Chinese influence over the Panama Canal is debated.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week it was “unacceptable” for Hong Kong-based companies to control the canal’s entry and exit points, arguing they could shut down transit if Beijing ordered them to.

Panama has now announced an audit into the subsidiary of Mr. Li’s CK Hutchison Holdings, which manages two of the canal’s five ports.

Hutchison Ports PPC — which also uses the name Panama Ports Company SA — has managed the port of Cristobal on the canal’s Atlantic side and Balboa on the Pacific side since 1997 via a concession from the Panama government.

That arrangement was automatically renewed in 2021.

Hutchison Ports said last month that it is the “only port operator in the country where the state is a shareholder”, and that it had paid the Panama government $59 million in the past three years.

It said its workforce is almost entirely Panamanian.