巴拿馬廢除香港公司的運河港口營運合約（1/2）

Recently Google News on-line picked up the following:

Panama voids Hong Kong-based firm's canal port contracts (1/2)

BBC - By Amy Walker and Suranjana Tewari, Asia business correspondents

31 Jan 2026

Panama's Supreme Court has annulled contracts allowing a Hong Kong-based company to operate container ports on the Panama Canal.

The ruling comes a year after US President Donald Trump claimed China was "operating the Panama Canal" - the main shipping link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans - in his inaugural speech.

CK Hutchison Holding, through its subsidiary the Panama Ports Company (PPC), has operated two of the five ports since the 1990s. It had previously agreed to sell them to a group led by a US investment firm under a wider deal.

The court found that laws allowing the firm to operate the ports were "unconstitutional", but PPC said the ruling "lacks legal basis".

Trump has made repeated claims that the Central American canal is under Chinese control.

During his address last January, he said: "China is operating the Panama Canal and we didn't give it to China. We gave it to Panama and we're taking it back."

The following month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also demanded that Panama make "immediate changes" to what he called the "influence and control" of China over the canal.

Panama has previously rejected the US government's claims and President Jose Raul Mulino has said the canal "is and will remain" in his country's hands.

There is no public evidence to suggest China exercises control over the canal, though Chinese companies have a significant presence there.

CK Hutchison, founded by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, is not owned by the Chinese government.

But Beijing's tighter political control over Hong Kong in recent years has changed how the company is viewed internationally. Its global assets - which include ports and logistics hubs - are now often seen through the lens of wider concerns about China's influence.

Against a backdrop of rivalry between the US and China over global trade routes, as well as the Trump administration's focus on US dominance over the western hemisphere, the ruling on Thursday is likely to be seen as a victory for Washington.

Panama's Supreme Court said in a statement published on its website that, after "extensive deliberation", it had found that laws that underpin a concession contract between the state and PPC at the ports of Balbao and Cristóbal were unconstitutional.

(to be continued)

Translation

巴拿馬廢除香港公司的運河港口營運合約（1/2）

巴拿馬最高法院宣佈，廢除了允許一家總部位於香港的公司在巴拿馬運河上經營貨櫃港口的合約。

這項裁決是在美國總統特朗普 - 在他的就職演說中 - 聲稱中國「操控巴拿馬運河」一年後作出的 - 這運河連接大西洋和太平洋的主要航運通道。

長江和記實業有限公司(CK Hutchison Holding)透過其子公司巴拿馬港口公司（PPC）自1990年代以來一直經營五個港口中的兩個。此前，該公司已同意根據一項更廣泛的交易，將這兩個港口出售給一個由美國投資公司主導的財團。

法院裁定，允許巴拿馬港口公司運營這些港口的法律“違憲”，但該公司表示，裁決“缺乏法律依據”。

特朗普曾多次聲稱中美洲運河受中國控制。

他在去年一月的一次演講中表示：“中國正在運營巴拿馬運河，我們沒有把它交給中國。我們把它交給了巴拿馬，現在我們要收回它。”

在之後的一個月，美國國務卿盧比奧也要求巴拿馬  “立即改變” 他所謂的中國對運河的 “影響和控制”。

巴拿馬先前已駁斥了美國政府的說法，總統Jose Raul Mulino也表示，運河「現在和將來」都掌握在巴拿馬手中。

雖然中國企業在巴拿馬有引人注目的存在，但目前尚無公開證據顯示中國對運河行使控制權。

長江和記實業有限公司是由香港億萬富翁李嘉誠創立，並非中國政府所有。

但近年來北京對香港加強的政治管控改變了國際社會對該公司的看法。這有限公的全球資產 - 包括港口和物流樞紐 - 如今常常被置於對中國影響力日益增長的擔憂的背景下進行審視。

在美中兩國圍繞全球貿易路線競爭，以及特朗普政府著力維護美國在西半球主導地位的背景下，週四的裁決很可能被視為華盛頓的勝利。

巴拿馬最高法院在其網站上發表聲明稱，經過“廣泛審議”，法院認定，國家與 PPC 簽訂有關Balbao港和Cristóbal港的特許經營合約所依據的法律是違憲。

（待續）