Hong Kong’s ‘Superman’ in Beijing’s Crosshairs Over Sale of Panama Port Assets

Billionaire tycoon Li Ka-shing is engaged in a protracted power struggle over ports in the Panama Canal.

An aerial view shows containers at the Balboa Port, operated by Panama Ports Company, at the Panama Canal, in Panama City, Panama, on Feb. 1, 2025. Enea Lebrun/Reuters

News Analysis 

After a career that spans the better part of a century, Hong Kong’s wealthiest man is trying to exit the global ports business. Analysts say it’s a pragmatic business move that has landed him in the middle of a fierce tug of war between Beijing and Washington.

Li Ka-shing, 96, is retired from his position as chairman of CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd, the company he founded. However, the billionaire tycoon—nicknamed “Superman” in Hong Kong—remains a senior adviser to the corporation and is one of Hong Kong’s most influential figures.

On March 4, CK Hutchison announced that it planned to sell most of its global port operations in 23 countries to a consortium led by U.S. investment company BlackRock.

The deal, which would include key assets at both ends of the Panama Canal, is valued at $22.8 billion.

The planned sale was inevitably viewed in light of President Donald Trump’s criticisms of Chinese influence over the Panama Canal.

Trump touted the sale March 4, saying, “Just today, a large American company announced they are buying both ports around the Panama Canal.” CK Hutchison stock gained more than 22 percent the day following the announcement.

Beijing quickly made its displeasure known through its state-run media.

Ta Kung Pao, a Hong Kong newspaper now controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), launched a series of scathing commentaries on March 13, 15, and 17, criticizing Li’s actions as “disregarding national interests” and “betraying and selling out all Chinese people.”

Wen Wei Po, another CCP controlled Hong Kong daily, also blasted CK Hutchison. In all, the two papers published some 20 news stories and opinion pieces denouncing the sale and urging the company to consider national interests.

As China’s state run media continued its barrage, Beijing sent a high level representative to Panama on a mission to woo public support in the canal nation.

Ma Hui, deputy director of China’s Central Foreign Affairs Department, led a delegation on March 14 and 15, meeting with political party leaders and holding discussions with think tank scholars.

Meanwhile, CK Hutchison, which is now run by Li Ka-sheng’s son Victor Li, kept quiet.

In the statement announcing the deal, Frank Sixt, CK Hutchison’s co-managing director, had said it was “purely commercial in nature and wholly unrelated to recent political news reports concerning the Panama Ports.”

And observers noted that the sale of the firm’s global ports assets was part of a deleveraging effort that had been ongoing since 2020, when it sold European telecom tower assets to a Spanish wireless services company for $11 billion.

The deal was expected to be inked April 2.

After two weeks, with no sign that CK Hutchison intended to back away from the sale, China’s state administration for market regulation announced March 29 that it would review the deal for potential violations of anti-monopoly and national security laws. The investigation, while not the final word on the deal, puts the timing of the sale in limbo.

Although China’s state run media accused Li of betraying his country, China observers told The Epoch Times that Li is first and foremost a pragmatic businessman who is walking a tightrope between financial sense and geopolitical tensions.

Taiwanese media personality and human rights activist Yang Sen-hong told The Epoch Times he believes that Li understands Trump’s “balance sheet” approach to governance.

Yang said the Hong Kong business magnate’s success is based on the legacy of British colonial rule rather than on CCP-granted privileges. The Trump administration may have engaged with Li early on, he speculated, knowing that he would be willing to divest from the Panama ports.

A Rags to Riches Story

Li was born to a poor family in China’s southern Guangdong Province in 1928. His family fled to Hong Kong as refugees in 1940 during the Sino-Japanese War.

Li’s father died when he was young, and at age 15 he dropped out of school to work as an apprentice in a hardware factory. At 18, Li was promoted to business manager, highlighting his commercial talent.

At 21, with a few thousand dollars in savings and some loans from relatives, he founded Cheung Kong Plastics.

Later, he built on the factory’s success to expand into real estate and finance. In 1979, Li bought a controlling interest in Hutchison Whampoa, a British-owned local trading company. Hutchison eventually emerged as the world’s largest independent port operator.

In 1987, Li, still in his 50s, made his first appearance on the Forbes Billionaires List. In the 1990s, as China experienced a period of greater economic openness, he began making major inroads into the mainland market.

Cheung Kong, which became one of Hong Kong’s leading multinational conglomerates, merged with Hutchison Whampoa in 2015 to form CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd.

Today, CK Hutchison is worth almost $170 billion and operates in 50 countries. Its businesses range from ports and real estate to retail, telecommunications, and utilities.

A subsidiary of the conglomerate has operated ports at both ends of the Panama Canal since 1997.

Walking a Tightrope

Li got his nickname, “Superman,” for his uncanny sense of when to sell and his ability to turn a profit.

That business sense—which has earned him a net worth of around $38 billion—has drawn Beijing’s ire before.

Around 2013, as the real estate bubble was bursting in China, Li began restructuring his holdings in China, selling off real estate and other assets and shifting his focus to Europe.

The move led Chinese state media to publish an article entitled “Don’t let Li Ka-shing run away,” criticizing Li for pulling out of investments in China at a time of economic turbulence.

First and foremost, Li is a pragmatic businessman, analysts said.

Yang said Li, who has drawn comparisons to American business legend Warren Buffett, is a Western-style entrepreneur who knows when to retreat.

The multi-billion dollar deal would be doubly advantageous as he wins Trump’s approval and boosts CK Hutchison’s stock price. But if he doesn’t pull out of the ports business now, “he would be doing a disservice to himself,” Yang said.

Tang Jingyuan, a U.S. based China commentator, concurred. Li views his extensive port assets not as cash cows but as ticking time bombs, he said. They could bring significant political risks at any moment, he said.

“Li Ka-shing is now in a position where he can’t afford to offend anyone, but he can avoid trouble. It can be said that he is executing a precise exit strategy, or you could say he is walking a tightrope,” he told The Epoch Times.

Taiwanese economist Wu Jialong said Li has skillfully balanced both risk and precision in his exit strategy.

Most of his investments are outside of China, so he will naturally consider changing international circumstances, Wu told The Epoch Times.

“It’s clear that he does not want to confront the United States; his position is different from that of the CCP,” he said. “The CCP is concerned with issues of national pride and nationalism, but these are not factors Li is focused on.”

Can Beijing Stop the Sale?

It remains unclear what approach, if any, Beijing can take to stop the transaction, considering that CK Hutchison is selling a business outside China and Hong Kong. The corporation itself is registered in the Cayman Islands.

CK Hutchison now derives most of its revenue from overseas countries, limiting Beijing’s ability to directly control its decisions.

However, it could make life difficult by indirectly by investigating CK Hutchison’s affiliates or subsidiary companies, or withholding approval for other deals.

Li’s sons, Victor and Richard, both run affiliated companies that are heavily invested in China, leaving them vulnerable. And CK Hutchison owns subsidiary companies in the energy, transportation, and utilities sectors in Hong Kong.

Yu Tsung-Chi, a former dean of the Political Warfare College at Taiwan’s National Defense University, told The Epoch Times that, directly or indirectly, the sale will need Beijing’s approval.

“Even though these are overseas assets, they still need the approval of the CCP. Otherwise, there could be consequences later,” he said.

‘Serious Attention’ From Hong Kong

At a press conference before Hong Kong’s Executive Council meeting on March 18, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said the publicity surrounding the proposed sale “reflects society’s concern over the matter” and “these concerns deserve serious attention.”

Without naming Trump, he said the Hong Kong government opposes “the abusive use of coercion or bullying tactics in international economic and trade relations.”

Lee did not directly respond to a reporter’s question about whether Hong Kong’s National Security Law would be used against CK Hutchison. However, “any transaction must comply with legal and regulatory requirements,” he said.

Tang told The Epoch Times that regardless of which provision of the Hong Kong National Security Law Beijing might use to block the transaction, in legal terms, the CCP would face a significant challenge.

The CCP would need to provide solid evidence to prove that Li was maliciously colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security, he said. In other words, it would have to redefine what is essentially a normal business transaction as an act of maliciously undermining national security.

Tang added that such political pressure would undoubtedly create a powerful chilling effect on private enterprises not only in Hong Kong but across all of China.

Gloves Off

The struggle between CK Hutchison and Beijing comes at a time when Chinese leader Xi Jinping has tried to portray himself as a friend of business at a time of global trade tensions. At a February meeting with private sector CEOs in China, Xi claimed equal protection for private and state enterprises. Last month, leading up to the 2025 National People’s Congress March 5-11, a People’s Daily article praised Xi as “very pro-business.”

And at a meeting with global business leaders in Beijing last Friday, Xi called China “an ideal, safe, and promising destination for foreign investment.”

Yang Sen-hong, the Taiwanese filmmaker, believes if Beijing insists on blocking CK Hutchison’s deal with BlackRock, the stalemate will emerge for what it is: A showdown between Xi and Trump—which would bolster Trump’s claim that the Panama Canal zone is indeed currently controlled by Beijing.

CK Hutchison did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

Fei Zhen contributed to this story.