President Trump’s claim that China controls the Panama Canal has placed a Hong Kong tycoon and his conglomerate at the heart of a showdown between the United States and China.

特朗普总统声称中国控制着巴拿马运河，这使一名香港大亨和他的企业集团成为中美对峙的中心。

That sprawling company, CK Hutchison Holdings, is one of Hong Kong’s most valuable publicly listed firms and counts some of the world’s biggest investors as shareholders. One of its subsidiaries, Hutchison Ports, has been involved in the Panama Canal since 1997.

这家庞大的公司名为长江和记实业有限公司，是香港市值最高的上市公司之一，股东中包括一些是全球最大的投资者。其子公司和记港口自1997年以来一直参与巴拿马运河的建设。

Of Panama’s five ports, Hutchison’s are the biggest — one at each end of the canal. According to the Panama Maritime Authority, Hutchison’s ports last year served vessels carrying 39 percent of the cargo containers that passed through the canal, one of the world’s most vital waterways. (The other ports are owned by a Taiwanese company, a Singaporean company and an American-Panamanian joint venture.)

在巴拿马的五个港口中，和记经营的两个港口是最大的，分别位于运河两端。根据巴拿马海事管理局的数据，和记旗下的港口去年为该运河——世界上最重要的水道之一——中39%的集装箱货船提供服务（其他港口分别由一家台湾公司、一家新加坡公司和一家美国-巴拿马合资企业所有。）

The company’s role brings to the surface unresolved questions for Washington about Beijing’s influence over Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, which has become more pronounced in recent years. The Trump administration argues that China could use its influence over a Hong Kong company to force Panama to restrict American trade in the port.

该公司的角色令华盛顿面临的一些悬而未决的问题浮出水面，这些问题关系到北京对中国特别行政区香港的影响，近年来，这种影响变得更加明显。特朗普政府称，中国可以利用其对一家香港公司的影响力，迫使巴拿马限制美国在该港口的贸易。

2018年，长江和记实业集团主席李嘉诚。他有时会就中国收紧对香港的控制发表言论。

What is CK Hutchison, and who is this tycoon?

长江和记是一家什么样的公司？这位大亨又是谁？

The billionaire founder of CK Hutchison, Li Ka-shing, is a legend in Hong Kong. A high school dropout, Mr. Li, now 96, turned a small business selling plastic flowers into an empire spanning infrastructure, finance, retail and telecommunications.

长江和记的亿万富翁创始人李嘉诚是香港的传奇人物。现年96岁的李嘉诚高中辍学，他把一个卖塑料花的小公司变成了一个横跨基础设施、金融、零售和电信的帝国。

Hutchison Ports, a subsidiary of CK Hutchison whose stock is listed in Singapore, operates the Balboa and Cristóbal ports on the Pacific and Atlantic sides of the Panama Canal. The company employs 30,000 people and operates 53 ports in two dozen countries. Its biggest shareholders are BlackRock and Vanguard, two of the world’s largest asset managers.

在新加坡上市的长江和记子公司和记港口经营着巴拿马运河太平洋和大西洋两端的巴尔博亚港和克里斯托巴尔港。该公司有3万名员工，在20多个国家经营53个港口。其最大股东是贝莱德和先锋这两家全球最大的资产管理公司。

For decades until he retired in 2018, Mr. Li ran his business in a way that Chinese companies could not, capitalizing on Hong Kong’s free market and different laws. Like other Hong Kong entrepreneurs, Mr. Li cultivated ties with China’s top leaders in Beijing and invested in China.

在2018年退休之前的几十年里，李嘉诚利用香港的自由市场和不同的法律以中国公司无法做到的方式经营自己的企业。与其他香港企业家一样，李嘉诚在北京培养与中国高层领导的关系，并在中国投资。

But in more recent years, Mr. Li has sometimes spoken out about China’s increasing grip on Hong Kong. In 2019, when pro-democracy protests were met with police force and Beijing looked to the city’s elites to fall in line, Mr. Li called for the authorities to exercise restraint.

但近年来，李嘉诚有时会公开谈论中国对香港日益加强的控制。2019年，当支持民主的抗议活动遭到警方武力镇压，北京希望香港的精英们服从时，李嘉诚呼吁当局保持克制。

Since then, Mr. Li has sold much of his real estate holdings in China and pivoted some of his investments to Europe, a move that has angered Chinese nationalists.

从那以后，李嘉诚卖掉了他在中国持有的大部分房地产，并将部分投资转向欧洲，此举激怒了中国的民族主义者。

巴拿马运河上的集装箱。去年，和记运营的港口装运了运河上39%的集装箱。

What does Hutchison Ports do at the Panama Canal?

和记港口在巴拿马运河做什么？

Hutchison has operated the Balboa and Cristóbal ports since 1997, when Panama granted it a 25-year concession. It is the only port operator in which the Panamanian government is a shareholder and receives payments for container movements through the canal and dividends.

1997年，巴拿马授予和记25年的特许经营权，此后和记一直经营巴尔博亚港和克里斯托巴尔港。它是唯一一家巴拿马政府持股的港口运营商，巴拿马政府从通过运河的集装箱运输中获取收益和分红。

But Hutchison’s concession to operate its ports, which was renewed for another 25 years in 2021, is now in question.

和记的港口经营权在2021年又延长了25年，但如今正面临质疑。

Panamanian authorities have promised to conduct an audit to verify that Hutchison “is properly reporting its revenues, payments and contributions to the state.” On Jan. 21, nearly a dozen auditors entered the company’s offices to begin their work.

巴拿马当局已承诺进行审计，以核实和记是否“正确报告了其收入、付款和对国家的贡献”。1月21日，近12名审计员进入该公司办公室开始工作。

In addition, two lawyers in Panama filed a lawsuit this week challenging the country’s contract with Hutchison, saying it violated Panama’s Constitution. The Chinese government said on Wednesday that it “believes that the government of Panama will provide a fair environment for enterprises including those from Hong Kong.”

此外，巴拿马的两名律师本周对该国与和记的合同提起诉讼，称该合同违反了巴拿马宪法。中国政府周三表示，相信巴拿马“会为包括中国香港特区企业在内的各国、各地区企业提供公平公正的环境”。

Hutchison Ports and its parent, CK Hutchison, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

和记港口及其母公司长江和记没有回应记者的多次置评请求。

If CK Hutchison is in Hong Kong, why is it being called Chinese?

如果长江和记在香港，为什么被称为中国公司？

That has to do with the unusual status of Hong Kong and its old-line companies like CK Hutchison.

这与香港及其长江和记等老牌公司的特殊地位有关。

Hong Kong was ruled by Britain for a century and a half before it was returned to China in 1997. Beijing promised that it would let the city operate with “a high degree of autonomy.” That changed in 2020 when Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong after pro-democracy protests erupted in the city.

香港在1997年回归中国之前曾被英国统治了一个半世纪。北京承诺将让香港享有“高度自治”。2020年，香港爆发民主抗议活动，北京对香港实施国家安全法，这改变了香港的现状。

Beijing’s tight control over Hong Kong has snuffed out political opposition. Much of what made Hong Kong different from China, like a vibrant civic society and companies that could operate independently, has been eroded.

北京对香港的严格控制扼杀了政治上的反对派。香港与中国的大部分不同之处，比如充满活力的公民社会和可以独立经营的公司，都已被侵蚀。

Mr. Trump, in his first term, signed an executive order revoking a special designation under American law that allowed the United States to treat Hong Kong differently from China on matters of immigration and trade. During his term, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. extended the executive order.

特朗普在他的第一个任期内签署了一项行政命令，撤销了美国法律下的一项特殊规定，该规定允许美国在移民和贸易问题上区别对待香港和中国。拜登总统在任期内延长了该行政命令。

Authorities in Hong Kong, meanwhile, have taken steps to signal their loyalty to Beijing.

与此同时，香港当局采取了一些措施，表明对北京的忠诚。

“Everything has to be ‘Hong Kong, China,’” said David Webb, a longtime Hong Kong investor. “It’s not really surprising that Hong Kong companies then get regarded as Chinese.”

“一切都必须是‘中国香港’，”长期投资香港的戴维·韦伯说。“香港公司就这样被看作中国公司，这并不奇怪。”

在巴拿马的五个港口中，和记经营的两个港口是最大的，它们位于运河两端。

What is mainland China’s involvement in Panama?

中国在巴拿马的参与情况如何？

The Trump administration’s concern about China’s influence in Panama is part of broader worries about China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a program that has financed and built infrastructure projects around the world. Panama, in 2017, became the first Latin American country to join Belt and Road.

特朗普政府对中国在巴拿马影响力的担忧，是对中国“一带一路”倡议更广泛担忧的一部分，该倡议在世界各地资助和建设基础设施项目。2017年，巴拿马成为首个加入“一带一路”的拉美国家。

After a visit this week by Marco Rubio, the U.S. secretary of state, President José Raúl Mulino of Panama said he would not renew the Belt and Road agreement. But Beijing has already been scaling back its lending worldwide.

美国国务卿马尔科·卢比奥本周访问巴拿马之后，巴拿马总统何塞·劳尔·穆利诺表示，他不会续签“一带一路”协议。但中国政府已经在缩减其在全球的贷款规模。

Panama has received $669.7 million worth of grants and loan commitments from China, about half as much as its neighbor Costa Rica, according to AidData, a research project at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. The biggest Chinese financing in Panama was a $200 million loan commitment in 2019 from the state-owned Export-Import Bank of China to a privately owned Panamanian bank.

据弗吉尼亚州威廉斯堡威廉玛丽公司的研究项目AidData称，巴拿马从中国获得了价值6.697亿美元的赠款和贷款承诺，约为其邻国哥斯达黎加的一半。中国在巴拿马的最大一笔融资是2019年，国有的中国进出口银行向一家私营的巴拿马银行提供的2亿美元贷款承诺。

China was planning to do more for Panama after a visit by its top leader, Xi Jinping, in 2018. But the president of Panama who had led a tilt toward Beijing, Juan Carlos Varela, left office in 2019.

中国最高领导人习近平2018年访问巴拿马后，中国本来计划为巴拿马做更多事情。但是，亲北京的前总统胡安·卡洛斯·巴雷拉于2019年卸任。