Panama ports deal: Beijing posts third news article lambasting Hutchison
Beijing's top offices for Hong Kong affairs have for the third time signalled their wrath at CK Hutchison over its Panama ports deal by reposting a critical article from Ta Kung Pao which warned businesses that disregard national interests will eventually 'destroy their own foundations'.
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The posts by the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office and the central government's liaison office in the city on Wednesday came hours after media reports emerged that CK Hutchison Holdings was set to finalise plans to sell its overseas port operations to a consortium led by US firm BlackRock by April 2.
The article, published by pro-Beijing newspaper Ta Kung Pao on Wednesday, was the third about Hutchison's port deal the Beijing offices have shared in full in the past two weeks, moves seen as an indirect way for the central government to pressure the company into reconsidering the sale.
In the news story headlined 'Business practices that disregard national interests will ultimately destroy their own foundations', the reporter suggested that CK Hutchison sold the port under coercion from the US and described America's action as 'short-sighted' and 'fuelling the flames of hegemony'.
He wrote that Hong Kong businesses were participants of the country's reform and the beneficiaries of the country's stable development.
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'The state is the firm supporter for these enterprises,' he said.
'Ignoring or even sacrificing national development interests in business is a short-sighted and self-destructive behaviour for the long-term development of enterprises.'
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