{"id":448123,"date":"2026-02-04T07:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T07:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/448123\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T07:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T07:51:10","slug":"china-warns-panama-as-hong-kong-firm-contests-ruling-on-canal-ports-international-trade-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/448123\/","title":{"rendered":"China warns Panama as Hong Kong firm contests ruling on canal ports | International Trade News"},"content":{"rendered":"

China calls court ruling against Hong Kong firm CK Hutchison on Panama Canal ports \u2018absurd\u2019 and \u2018shameful\u2019.<\/p>\n

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Published On 4 Feb 20264 Feb 2026<\/p>\n

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Hong Kong firm CK Hutchison has announced the start of international arbitration proceedings against Panama after the country\u2019s top court annulled its contract to operate two ports on the strategic Panama Canal<\/a> amid pressure from the United States.<\/a><\/p>\n

The announcement on Wednesday comes as the Chinese government\u2019s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) said that Panama\u2019s ruling against CK Hutchison subsidiary \u2013 the Panama Ports Company \u2013 was \u201cabsurd\u201d, \u201cshameful and pathetic\u201d.<\/p>\n

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The Panamanian court had \u201cignored the facts, breached trust, and seriously damaged the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises in Hong Kong, China\u201d, the HKMAO said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina has sufficient means and tools, and sufficient strength and ability to defend a fair and just international economic and trade order,\u201d the office said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeavy prices both politically and economically will surely be paid\u201d by Panama if it insists on going ahead with the ruling, the office warned.<\/p>\n

The decision last week by Panama\u2019s Supreme Court to annul the Hong Kong firm\u2019s contract to operate two ports on the canal followed after US President Donald Trump<\/a> threatened to seize control of the crucial passageway that connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, claiming the waterway was effectively under Chinese control and therefore a security threat to Washington.<\/p>\n

Without naming the US, the Chinese statement further said that \u201csome country has \u2026 used bullying tactics to force other countries to obey their will,\u201d and that Panama had \u201cwillingly succumbed\u201d to hegemonic power.<\/p>\n

John Moolenaar, chairman of the US House Select Committee on China, called the Panama court\u2019s decision a \u201cwin for America\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Panamanian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding China\u2019s warning.<\/p>\n

CK Hutchison said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Wednesday that its board of directors \u201cstrongly disagrees with the determination and corresponding actions in Panama\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe group continues to consult with its legal counsel and reserves all rights, including recourse to additional national and international legal proceedings in the matter,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n

Following the court ruling last week, the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) announced that the Danish firm Maersk will temporarily take over the operation of two ports previously operated by the Hong Kong firm\u2019s subsidiary.<\/p>\n

The canal handles about 40 percent of US container traffic and 5 percent of world trade. The canal\u2019s construction was paid for by the US, which operated it for a century before turning control over to Panama in 1999.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"China calls court ruling against Hong Kong firm CK Hutchison on Panama Canal ports \u2018absurd\u2019 and \u2018shameful\u2019. Published…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,1204,4868,144,12,3139,3140,3,56529,104,10127,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-448123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-asia-pacific","tag-business-and-economy","tag-china","tag-donald-trump","tag-international-trade","tag-latin-america","tag-news","tag-panama","tag-trade-war","tag-transport","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}