The 97-year-old 'superman' who stands up to Xi Jinping

BeijingIf it were one of the famous series that the Chinese public likes so much, it could be titled Power, ports and homeland. It would have all the ingredients: the admired figure of a tycoon of businesses that have sprung up from nowhere, delicate alliances with those in power, the danger of external tensions, and the eternal doubts about whether money has a homeland.

But this is a true story. The Chinese government has not liked the decision by CK Hutchison Holdings Group, a Hong Kong company, to sell the majority of its port business to a consortium led by BlackRock for around €21.63 billion. The transaction includes the operation and management of 43 container ports in 23 countries. Ports operating in China and Hong Kong have been excluded from the agreement.

But the pressure is not only coming from China, because the sale includes the ports that control the Panama Canal—Balboa in the Pacific and Cristóbal in the Atlantic—and Donald Trump had threatened to take control of the Canal given the strong Chinese presence. The company has been caught between the two largest economies in the world.

Hutchison is a large conglomerate, owned by Li Ka-shing, a Hong Kong business magnate with good connections to mainland China. According to ForbesLi Ka-shing is the richest man in Hong Kong and the 38th richest in the world. The company is estimated to have more than 300,000 employees spread across around fifty countries.

For China, the sale of CK Hutchison is not a business decision, but a concession to Trump. Beijing believes this measure will cause it to lose presence in the port sector and control over maritime trade routes, and therefore undermines its national interests.

Chinese pressure has followed the usual pattern that other companies have already suffered: first, a social media campaign accusing Li Ka-shing of anti-patriotism, followed by critical articles against the company in Chinese official media, statements by senior officials warning of the error, threats of backlash, and threats of repression.

The Hutchison sale agreement was described in the press as a "betrayal of the Chinese people." Beijing, through the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, was also quick to point out that at a time of tensions between Beijing and Washington, it's important to know which side you're on. It's been a battery of threats that has included a directive to state-owned companies to freeze deals with Hutchison and companies linked to the Li family. The criticisms show that the conglomerate's once-good relations with the Chinese government have cooled.

Le Ka-shing, 97, is known as Superman for his business savvy and embodies the myth of the self-made entrepreneur at a time when Hong Kong was a land of opportunity. In 1940, Le arrived in Hong Kong with his family, fleeing the Japanese invasion. He was 12 years old, and at 15, he began working in a plastics factory. Thanks to family savings and loans, in 1950, at the age of 21, he founded Cheung Kong Plastics, becoming the largest supplier of plastic flowers in Asia. And from then on, he only grew and diversified.

By the 1970s, he was already a major property developer, controlled the investment holding company Hutchison Whampoa, and purchased Hong Kong Electric Holdings Ltd., one of the territory's leading electricity companies. From there, the conglomerate entered other sectors such as retail, telecommunications, hospitality, biotechnology, port management, and media.

Li Ka-shing maintained very good relations with the communist government and was a major investor when reforms began in China. There is even a legend that he reached an agreement with Beijing so that the kidnapper of one of his children would be arrested in China and given the death penalty, which did not exist in Hong Kong.

But the fluid relationship he maintained with Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin or Hu Jintao does not seem to be the same with Xi Jinping.

Since 2013, Li Ka-shing has been withdrawing from the Chinese market and has moved his investments to Europe, Canada and Australia. Currently, only 12% of income comes from mainland China. The reduction of the company's exposure in China limits the impact of Beijing's retaliation.

But the pressure from the Chinese government resonates in Hong Kong as a serious warning for companies. The days when an autonomous Hong Kong imposed no limits on capitalism and business agreements were settled, if necessary, in the courts are long gone. National interests and patriotism come first.