The deal hands over more than 40 global ports owned by Hong Kong business magnate Li Ka-Shing to US asset manager BlackRock and Mediterranean Shipping Company.

The Chinese Embassy in Panama on Tuesday published a press release on Ambassador Xu Xueyuan’s recent meeting with Ricaurte Vásquez Morales, administrator of the Panama Canal Authority, and Ilya Espino de Marotta,

China has warned that it may block the sale of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison's international ports, including one on either end of the Panama Canal, to a United States-linked consortium unless China's state-owned shipping giant, COSCO, is included in the agreement.

CK Hutchison Holdings is in talks with a BlackRock-led consortium to include a strategic investor from China to push ahead with its plans to sell ports on either end of the Panama Canal.

The Trump administration has renewed and reinforced the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, establishing a zero-tolerance policy for interference from extracontinental powers in the Americas.

China has long eyed the Panama Canal as a major competitor in global trade, and with the Nicaragua Canal project, it seemed ready to build a new route between the Pacific and Atlantic. This ambitious plan,

The proposed sale includes two ports at the Panama Canal and more than 40 others around the world, all owned by Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison.

A global trade battleground is quietly emerging, and it centers around one of the world’s most vital shipping routes. While most headlines focused on Trump’s controversial remarks about the Panama Canal,