John Lee says the Hong Kong administration opposes the abusive use of coercion and bullying tactics in international economic and trade relations.

Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing's business empire is in the crosshairs after CK Hutchison Holdings chose to sell its Panama Canal port assets to a consortium that includes U.S. investment firm BlackRock Inc.

The statements took shots at CK Hutchison's $23 billion sale of the Panama Canal-adjacent ports to BlackRock as "bullying" without mentioning the U.S. by name.