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The Ta Kung Pao newspaper on Friday published a commentary, calling on relevant company and individual involved in selling ports in Panama and other countries to halt the transaction to avoid making wrong calculations and losing more than they gain.
The article noted that the plan of a well-known Hong Kong company to sell the operating rights of 43 overseas ports, including two major ports of the Panama Canal, to the US firm BlackRock, has sparked heated public debate, including sharp criticisms.
The article pointed out that, in recent years, the US has positioned China as a "top competitor" and "the most consequential geopolitical challenge," employing measures such as technological blockades, trade wars, and supply chain decoupling to curb China's peaceful development. Controlling global critical infrastructure is one of the key strategies of the US, and ports have become a primary target, it said.
The Panama Canal is a vital artery for global shipping, handling approximately 6 percent of global trade each year, and serves as a crucial passage for trade between China and the Americas. As the second-largest user of the Panama Canal, China's foreign trade stability and logistics costs are directly impacted by its operations, making it of great significance to China's national interests, the article said.
The commentary also refuted claims that the transaction is "legal" under freedom of contract, noting that it is common sense that any action that is seriously harmful to the country and society will be regulated and punished by law, including those transactions that "use legal means to cover up illegal purposes."
In terms of legal issues related to the planned deal, the article said that the highest principle of the one country, two systems policy is to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests. From this perspective, the consequence of this transaction is that national security and development interests are damaged, which directly violates the principle, it noted.
There are legal mechanisms in place at both the national and regional levels to address so-called "legitimate transactions" that harm national interests. In other words, those who repeatedly emphasize that this transaction is entirely a "legitimate transaction" under the principle of contractual freedom are being rather naive and confused, the article said.
"If business decisions are made only for personal gain and ignore national interests, then no matter how well calculated or how much profit is made, it is self-evident which is more important than being despised by the Chinese people and being branded as a 'traitor,'" the article said.
"From the perspective of commercial merger and acquisition operations, the author advises relevant company and individual to stop making the transaction and not make the wrong calculations and lose more than they gain," the article reads.
This is the latest article from Ta Kung Pao criticizing CK Hutchison Holdings, a conglomerate based in the city, for its decision to sell ports in Panama and elsewhere to a US group. Previously,
two central government's bodies in Hong Kong reposted two opinion pieces published by the newspaper.
When commenting on the reported sale on Tuesday, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Chief Executive (HKSAR) John Lee said that any transaction must comply with legal and regulatory requirements, and the HKSAR government will handle the matter in accordance with the law and regulations, Wen Wei Po reported.
Global Times
