Israel: China-linked company loses bid for world's largest desalination plant construction
Israel moves to avoid frictions with Washington, US seeks to up pressure on Beijing-linked businesses
Under pressure from Washington, the Israeli government has handed the contract to construct Sorek 2, a desalination plant set to become world's largest, to Israel-based IDE Technologies, passing on Hutchison Water.
Hutchison Water, the second bidder for the contract worth over $1.4 billion to make it into the final round of the tender, is a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa company founded by Li Ka-shing, the world's 30th richest man as of mid-2019.
The founder of Hutchison Whampoa, now known as CK Hutchison Holdings Limited after a merger with Cheung Kong Holdings, has found himself in China's crosshairs in the past few months.
During the 1990s, as reported by Reuters, Li Ka-shing enjoyed good ties with Chinese officials, but as his business empire turned global, the relations soured all the way to the point where China accused him of “harboring criminality” during the recent Hong Kong protests as he called for a restrained response.
Nevertheless, the holding's links with China, reportedly including a $5.15 billion real estate deal, prompted unease among US officials, who urged Israel to avoid handing the contract to Hutchison Water amid growing US-China tensions.
While the COVID-19 coronavirus dominates the verbal spats between US and Chinese officials, the US appears to maintain its pressure on Chinese and China-linked businesses.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump's administration moved to ban Huawei, China's telecom giant, from acquiring semiconductors produced anywhere in the world using US technology.