{"id":553794,"date":"2026-01-30T11:13:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T11:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/553794\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T11:13:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T11:13:13","slug":"hong-kong-companys-concession-for-panama-canal-ports-ruled-unconstitutional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/553794\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong company\u2019s concession for Panama Canal ports ruled unconstitutional"},"content":{"rendered":"

PANAMA CITY (AP) \u2014 Panama\u2019s Supreme Court ruled late Thursday that the concession held by a subsidiary of Hong Kong\u2019s CK Hutchison Holdings to operate ports at either end of the Panama Canal is unconstitutional, an outcome that advances a U.S. aim to block any influence by China<\/a> over the strategic waterway.<\/p>\n

The court\u2019s ruling followed an audit by Panama\u2019s comptroller, which alleged irregularities in the 25-year extension of the concession granted in 2021.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration made blocking China\u2019s influence over the Panama Canal one of its priorities in the hemisphere. Panama was U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio\u2019s first overseas stop as the United States\u2019 top diplomat.<\/p>\n

Despite the insistence by Panama\u2019s government and the canal authority that China has no influence over its operations, Rubio made clear that the U.S. viewed the operation of the ports as a national security issue<\/a> for the U.S. President Donald Trump had gone so far as to say Panama should return the canal to U.S. control.<\/p>\n

The court\u2019s brief statement gave no guidance on what would happen to the ports now.<\/p>\n

The ruling draws backlash from Hong Kong <\/p>\n

CK Hutchison\u2019s subsidiary, Panama Ports Company, said it has not been notified yet about the decision but insisted its concession was the result of transparent international bidding. <\/p>\n

It said in its statement that the ruling \u201clacks legal basis and jeopardizes not only PPC and its contract, but also the well-being and stability of thousands of Panamanian families who depend directly and indirectly on port activity, but also the rule of law and legal certainty in the country.\u201d <\/p>\n

It said that it reserves all rights to proceed legally in Panama or elsewhere, but gave no more details.<\/p>\n

The Hong Kong government firmly rejected the ruling in a statement, saying it strongly opposes any foreign government using coercive, repressive or other unreasonable means to seriously harm the business interests of Hong Kong enterprises. It said the Panamanian government should respect the spirit of contracts and provide a fair business environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the current situation in Panama, Hong Kong enterprises should carefully review their existing and future investments there,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n

In Beijing, China\u2019s foreign ministry spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, told reporters that China would take all necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of \u201cthe Chinese company,\u201d without elaborating on the potential steps. <\/p>\n

Political analyst Edwin Cabrera said once the parties are notified, the issue of what to do with the ports goes to Panama\u2019s executive branch, specifically the Panama Maritime Authority.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have the impression from conversations that I have had with some people that the operation (of the ports) will not stop,\u201d Cabrera said.<\/p>\n

A sale deal that apparently angered Beijing <\/p>\n

CK Hutchison Holdings announced a deal last year to sell its majority stake<\/a> in the Panamanian ports and others around the world to an international consortium that included BlackRock Inc. But the deal appeared to stall over objections by the Chinese government.<\/p>\n

The company said last July that it was considering seeking a Chinese investor<\/a> to join as a significant member of the consortium, a move that some interpreted as way to please Beijing, but CK Hutchison hasn\u2019t said more since.<\/p>\n

The awkward position<\/a> the company found itself in highlights the challenges Hong Kong business elites face in navigating Beijing\u2019s expectations of national loyalty, especially when relations between China and the United States are strained. CK Hutchison is owned by the family of Hong Kong\u2019s richest man, Li Ka-shing.<\/p>\n

In parallel, Panama\u2019s comptroller audited the concession<\/a> to the Panama Ports Company, which had held the contract to operate the ports since 1997. The concession was renewed in 2021 for 25 years, during the prior Panamanian administration.<\/p>\n

Comptroller Anel Flores said the audit found payments that were not made, accounting errors and the apparent existence of a \u201cghost\u201d concessions operating within the ports since 2015. The company denied those allegations.<\/p>\n

The audit determined that the irregularities had cost the government about $300 million since the concession was extended and an estimated $1.2 billion during the original 25-year contract.<\/p>\n

Flores also said the extension was granted without the required endorsement of his office.<\/p>\n

On July 30, the comptroller challenged the Panama Ports Company\u2019s contract to operate the ports before the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Kanis Leung in Hong Kong contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PANAMA CITY (AP) \u2014 Panama\u2019s Supreme Court ruled late Thursday that the concession held by a subsidiary of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":553795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[11879,64,1613,74,13212,120657,356,69,242649,57,8464,59,1612,76928,410,50,1608,101478,1609,235115,369,67,370,132,68,107],"class_list":["post-553794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","category-us","tag-blackrock","tag-business","tag-central-america","tag-china","tag-china-government","tag-contracts-and-orders","tag-courts","tag-donald-trump","tag-edwin-cabrera","tag-general-news","tag-hong-kong","tag-inc","tag-latin-america","tag-li-ka-shing","tag-marco-rubio","tag-news","tag-panama","tag-panama-canal","tag-panama-city","tag-send-to-apple-news","tag-supreme-court-of-the-united-states","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-government","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115983758439023727","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}