CK Hutchison is a publicly listed conglomerate whose largest owner is a family of Hong Kong billionaires. It is not a Chinese state-owned company. But Beijing has tightened its control over Hong Kong in recent years, and it has the power to compel private companies to comply with its demands in the name of national security.
Panama has been the focus of special attention from China, because of the canal and its previous ties to Taiwan, but China has also been working to expand its influence in Latin America more broadly. It has positioned itself as an alternative to the United States in global leadership, casting itself as a fellow developing country more attuned to such nations’ needs.
Beijing has also invested heavily in Peru, where it opened a new Chinese-funded port in a city 40 miles north of Lima in November. China is South America’s top trading partner and the second-biggest, after the United States, for Latin America as a whole.
Going Forward
In response to accusations from President-elect Donald J. Trump, Chinese officials have denied having any interest in infringing on Panama’s sovereignty or bending it to its own interests against Washington. They have said that China would always respect the canal as a permanently neutral international waterway.
Chinese scholars have denounced American concerns about Beijing’s growing presence in Latin America as smear campaigns.
