Xi Showdown With Li Ka-shing Threatens China’s Pro-Business Push

President Xi Jinping is seeking to paint China as a steady partner to investors roiled by a global trade war. A spat over a shipping lane coveted by Donald Trump is testing that push.

Hours after Xi pledged at a meeting with global executives in Beijing on Friday to create a “predictable” business environment, China’s market regulator said it would open a review into billionaire Li Ka-shing’s deal to sell 43 ports around the world, including two in the Panama Canal, citing the need to “protect public interests.”