Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison said Tuesday that Panama authorities had threatened its employees with criminal prosecution if they defied orders to leave two strategic canal ports at the center of a legal battle that has embroiled Beijing and Washington. CK Hutchison said Panama’s decision to cancel key port contracts and grant temporary licenses to the Danish shipping company Maersk and the Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) was “unlawful” as it considers national and international legal action against the country.

Full report : Panama seizes two key ports from Hong Kong group amid U.S.-China canal dispute.