Hong Kong’s Li Ka-shing in rare public appearance, declines to discuss Panama port deal

Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing had made a rare public appearance, attending a concert at Kai Tak Stadium but declining to answer questions on his company’s controversial Panama Canal port deal.

Li, 96, was sitting in a bike-like wheelchair, smiling and saying “thank you” to people waiting when he exited a lift at the stadium where Taiwanese band Mayday was performing on Saturday night.

He was also asked if he had anything to say about CK Hutchison Holdings move to sell its overseas ports business, including two key docks at either end of the Panama Canal, to a consortium led by US asset management firm BlackRock.

Li declined to answer.

But a woman accompanying him, Solina Chau Hoi-shuen, co-founder of a venture capital firm backed by the tycoon, replied he was retired. She added that it was the first time Li had visited the stadium.

Li’s last public appearance was in a video at a gifting ceremony last month, when he donated two machines that can remove cancerous tumours with ultrasound waves to Temasek Trust in Singapore