A Hong Kong-based conglomerate that operates ports near the Panama Canal has agreed to sell shares in its port-management units to a consortium including BlackRock Inc after President Donald Trump alleged Chinese interference in the shipping lane.
In a statement filed Tuesday, CK Hutchison Holding said it would sell all shares of Hutchison Port Holdings and all shares of Hutchison Port Group Holdings.
The two divisions own 80% of the Hutchison Ports group, which operates 43 ports in 23 countries.
According to the statement, a consortium including BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners and Terminal Investment Limited will acquire 90% of the shares of Panama Ports Company, which owns and operates the ports of Balboa and Cristobal in Panama.
In January, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican who chairs the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, expressed concern that China could exploit or block passage through the canal and that the ports “provide China with ready vantage points” to take action.
“I believe this situation poses serious risks to the national security of the United States,” Mr. Cruz said.
In early February, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Panama and told President José Raúl Mulino that Panama needed to reduce China's influence in the canal or face possible retaliation from the United States.
Me Mulino rejected the idea that China has any control over the operation of the canal.
Panama withdrew from China's Belt and Road initiative after Mr Rubio's visit, drawing condemnation from Beijing.
But while much of the attention has been on Trump's threat to retake control of the canal, his administration has set its sights on Hutchison Ports, the Hong Kong-based consortium that operates key ports on both sides of the canal.
Hutchison Ports was recently awarded a 25-year extension to its port management contract without a tender process, but a review of the extension has already begun.
Observers had believed the audit was a preliminary step toward a possible re-tendering of the contract, but there have been rumours in recent weeks that a US firm close to the White House is being groomed for the job.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
