Ex-shipping leader joins Hong Kong liaison office amid stalled ports deal
Former executive of Chinese shipping giant Cosco will replace Qi Bin, who is set to take up role in top national advisory body
Beijing has appointed a former executive of a state-owned shipping giant, which is eyeing a major stake in Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison’s stalled global ports sale, as a deputy director at its liaison office in the city.
Zhang Yong, who previously served as executive vice-president of the Cosco Shipping Group, will replace Qi Bin, who was appointed in November 2024, according to an announcement from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on Wednesday.
The liaison office’s website was updated on the same day, with Zhang listed as the fourth deputy director. His biography notes that he used to work at the Office of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission.
Cosco has been in the spotlight since late July, when the media identified it as a “major strategic investor” invited by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing’s CK Hutchison to join a consortium seeking to acquire the latter’s global port stakes.
This came after a deadline for exclusive talks on the US$23 billion deal for the sale of CK Hutchison’s stakes in 43 ports – including two at either end of the Panama Canal – expired on July 25.
The move was seen as CK Hutchison’s attempt to appease Beijing, which had issued a series of criticisms slamming the conglomerate’s plan to sell an 80 per cent stake in its port assets to a Western consortium led by BlackRock as a “betrayal” of national interests.