China's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) reposted a commentary criticising CK Hutchison's port deal with U.S. firm BlackRock as a betrayal of China, sending shares of the Hong Kong-based conglomerate sharply lower on Friday.

Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison is under renewed pressure from Beijing after selling its Panama Canal ports, with Chinese authorities publishing newspaper criticism of the deal for the second time in three days.

The Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison’s planned sale of ports in Panama to a group led by BlackRock, the American finance giant, is under fire from Beijing.

Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing has raised Beijing’s ire by agreeing to sell its control over ports in Panama to appease President Donald Trump. But there may be little the Chinese authorities can do to punish him for it.

China called the new plan for American investment firm Blackrock to buy two ports in the Panama Canal from a Hong Kong-based company "spineless groveling" and "a betrayal." The nearly $23 billion deal was considered a way to assuage concerns from president trump that China is quote "running" the canal.