Chinese President Xi Jinping is seeking to paint China as a steady partner to investors roiled by a global trade war. A spat over a shipping lane coveted by U.S. President Donald Trump is testing that push.
Hours after Xi pledged at a meeting with global executives in Beijing on Friday to create a "predictable” business environment, China’s market regulator said it would open a review into billionaire Li Ka-shing’s deal to sell 43 ports around the world, including two in the Panama Canal, citing the need to "protect public interests.”
Over the weekend, Chinese officials overseeing Hong Kong affairs shared articles on social media accusing Li's CK Hutchison Holdings of acting "in concert with U.S. hegemony” over the $22.8 billion sale. Those broadsides came after the U.S. president framed the prospective deal to a group featuring BlackRock as America "reclaiming” the famed waterway.
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