Business politicization
When announcing the agreement, the co-manager of CK Hutchison, Frank Sixt, declared that it was “of a purely commercial nature and totally not related to the recent reports of political news about the ports of Panama.” However, subsequent events have shown that the agreement is much more than purely commercial.
The reports of the US media suggest that Larry Fink, president and CEO of Blackrock, contacted Trump to launch the Panama Canal Agreement. This raises questions about the evolution of the LI family with Chinese leadership.
Li Ka-Shing, called “Superman” by Hong Kong Media for commercial insight and connections, previously obtained exclusive meetings with China’s leaders, including Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin, during the first 20 years of reform and openness. However, in the last two decades, his family’s relationships with Beijing have cooled.
While Fink has direct access to Mr. Trump, the LI family may not enjoy the same privilege with Zhongnanhai, the complex where China’s main leaders live and work that is considered the white house equivalent.
Perhaps the Li family really believes that the agreement is purely commercial or believe that informing Beijing would complicate the agreement. Anyway, the resulting controversy should serve as a call for attention for them and other magnates in Hong Kong.
It hurts to say that business politicization, especially in transnational agreements multimillone in strategic industries, will become the new normality not only in the United States, China and Hong Kong, but throughout the world.
Wang Xiangwei is a former chief editor of South China Morning Post. Now teaches journalism at the Baptist University of Hong Kong.
