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A Chinese businessman arrived in Panama with money and power. Then he sold a port when his luck turned. Now China wants him sent back.
The Panama Canal is a vital artery of global trade. It is also critical to China’s maritime ambitions.Credit...
By Alexandra StevensonMurphy Zhao and David C. Adams
For years, Zhang Liang warned that powerful people in his former homeland, China, would try to drag him back. Then one Saturday morning in July, it happened.
In Panama City, two police officers on motorbikes pulled alongside his black Mercedes-Benz and motioned him to stop. A check of his identification turned up an Interpol red notice from the Chinese authorities, who wanted him extradited on charges of embezzling around $300 million.
Mr. Zhang, a 44-year-old dealmaker, barely had time to remove his gray suit jacket and wrap it around his head before officers handcuffed him and paraded him before cameras at Interpol’s National Central Bureau in Panama.
It was a remarkable fall for Mr. Zhang, one that traces the arc of China’s dealings with the West. He went to Panama ready to make deals and help China extend its influence. He oversaw a port project that promised to turn a former U.S. military base near the Panama Canal’s Atlantic entrance into Latin America’s largest container terminal, establishing a base for Chinese interests near one of the world’s busiest trade routes.
Today, China’s ruling Communist Party holds much tighter reins on entrepreneurs like Mr. Zhang. At the same time, Panama has been caught in a showdown between the United States and China: President Trump claims that China exercises too much control over the Panama Canal.
Mr. Zhang believes he is a pawn in a larger political game — a way for Beijing to regain direct control over key infrastructure he helped build in Panama.
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