China Says It’s ‘Not Aware’ of Report It Threatens to Block Panama Port Deal

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Jul 19, 2025 - 09:59 Updated: Jul 19, 2025 - 09:54
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China Says It’s ‘Not Aware’ of Report It Threatens to Block Panama Port Deal
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China has brushed off a report that it is threatening to block a high-profile port deal involving two ports at either end of the Panama Canal, unless a Chinese state-owned enterprise is given a stake in the agreement.

At a regular press briefing on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian was asked about a report by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which cited unnamed sources claiming that Beijing is pressuring parties in a $22.8 billion sale of international ports to include COSCO, China’s state-owned shipping company, as a stakeholder.

CK Hutchison, a Hong Kong-based conglomerate, said in March it has agreed to sell its 80 percent stake in 43 container ports across 23 countries—including two Panama Canal ports—to a consortium led by American asset management giant BlackRock and the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), based in Switzerland and controlled by the family of Italian billionaire Gianluigi Aponte. The deal still requires approval from Beijing.

According to the WSJ report, Chinese officials have directly warned CK Hutchison, BlackRock, and MSC that they would block the deal unless COSCO is brought in, particularly in the two Panama Canal ports. Sources also told the paper that Beijing has instructed state-owned enterprises to suspend new business dealings with CK Hutchison or other companies tied to billionaire founder Li Ka-shing, if COSCO is excluded.

Asked about the allegations, Lin said he was “not aware” of the claims made in the WSJ report.

“On CK Hutchison’s sales of its assets overseas, the State Administration for Market Regulation said that they would conduct a review in accordance with the law to protect fair market competition and safeguard public interests,” Lin said.

The proposed sale of international ports came after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested the United States should regain control of the Panama Canal, citing overcharges for its use on American ships and growing Chinese influence over the key waterway.

“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,” Trump said in his second inaugural speech.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said it is “unacceptable” for a Hong Kong-based company to control the strategically important entry and exit points of the Panama Canal, given that Beijing now has full control of Hong Kong, a once-autonomous city.

“If there’s a conflict and China tells them, do everything you can to obstruct the canal so that the U.S. can’t engage in trade and commerce, so that the U.S. military and naval fleet cannot get to the Indo–Pacific fast enough, they would have to do it … and they would do it. And now we’d have a major problem on our hands,” he said.

China’s state-aligned media has launched a propaganda campaign targeting CK Hutchison and founder Li Ka-shing. Ta Kung Pao, a Chinese Communist Party-affiliated newspaper in Hong Kong, published a series of blistering commentaries accusing the 96-year-old tycoon of “betraying and selling out all the Chinese people” and urging him to “think carefully about what position and which side to stand on.”

The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, the CCP’s top liaison office in Hong Kong, reposted several of these editorials on its official website in March.

Final terms of the deal are still under negotiation, with the companies facing a July 27 deadline for exclusive talks. BlackRock and CK Hutchison both have significant business interests in China, and MSC is one of the world’s largest carriers of Chinese exported goods, making all three potentially vulnerable to Beijing’s pressure.

The companies did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.

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