How Two Panama Canal Ports Became a US-China Flashpoint

When President Donald Trump called for the US to retake control of the Panama Canal during his inauguration speech last year, falsely claiming that the waterway is being operated by China, it set off a chain of events that landed Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing in the middle of a proxy battle between two superpowers.

A subsidiary of Li’s conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd. has operated ports at both ends of the Panama Canal for almost three decades. The two terminals are part of an expansive deal that CK Hutchison unveiled last March to sell 43 of its global ports to a consortium of buyers including BlackRock Inc.