Suspicions about the Chinese loyalties of the powerful Hong Kong business family headed by Li Ka-shing have spread from America to India, where some of Mr Li's ambitions are now being thwarted. In April, political opposition in America led to his withdrawal of a bid for Global Crossing, a bankrupt American cable operator. Now Hutchison Ports, part of Mr Li's Hutchison Whampoa group, has been blocked from tendering for a port project near an Indian naval base in Mumbai. Indian cabinet ministers have also deferred raising the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit for capital-hungry telecoms firms from 49% to 74%, apparently thanks to worries about the security risk of giving Mr Li full control over his Indian telecoms joint venture, Hutchison Essar, already a force in India's mobile-phone industry.
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