{"id":702586,"date":"2024-11-15T17:07:10","date_gmt":"2024-11-16T01:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=702586"},"modified":"2024-11-19T18:12:03","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T02:12:03","slug":"xi-inaugurates-megaport-in-peru-as-china-expands-ties-to-latin-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2024\/11\/xi-inaugurates-megaport-in-peru-as-china-expands-ties-to-latin-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Xi Inaugurates Megaport in Peru as China Expands Ties to Latin America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Xi Jinping\u2019s latest diplomatic tour began this week in Peru<\/a>, where he will participate in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima and the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. On Thursday, Xi made headlines by inaugurating the megaport of Chancay<\/a>, a major Chinese investment under the Belt and Road Initiative. The port is a symbol of China\u2019s growing influence in Latin America and has been framed against the backdrop of receding American presence in the region. Christian Shepherd and Lyric Li from The Washington Post described the scale and significance of the Chancay port<\/strong><\/a>:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cChina is ready to work hand in hand with our Peruvian friends with one heart and with the same goal and steer the ship of our friendship toward an even brighter future,\u201d Xi wrote in an editorial published in the El Peruano newspaper ahead of his arrival in Peru.<\/p>\n\n\n\n […] Chinese and Peruvian officials have called the project a transformative opportunity for Peru to become a central hub for South American goods from its biggest trading partner. Boluarte has called it a potential \u201cnerve center\u201d joining the continent to Asia, one that could create 8,000 jobs and $4.5 billion in economic activity annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chinese companies are involved in almost every aspect of the deepwater port project. The high-tech logistics hub will be exclusively operated by Chinese shipping giant Cosco, which in 2019 invested $1.3 billion to take a 60 percent stake in the project. Chinese state media has estimated the total cost of the finished project to be as much as $3.6 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n […] Chancay will join an expanding global network of more than 40 ports under the Belt and Road Initiative, a $1 trillion plan to build transportation and technology infrastructure launched by Xi in 2013. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n While this week\u2019s fanfare presents a positive image of the port, it has been the source of numerous controversies over who actually benefits the most from the Chinese investment. Earlier this year, the Peruvian government revealed that the deal contained an \u201cadministrative error<\/a>\u201d that gave COSCO exclusive rights over the port\u2019s operations. After attempting to overturn the decision to grant said exclusivity, the Peruvian government ultimately changed course and dropped its lawsuit<\/a> days before Peruvian President Dina Boluarte traveled to Beijing in June to meet with Xi. At the local level, the project has also generated ongoing tensions with nearby residents<\/a>. Isabel Debre and Franklin Brice\u00f1o from the Associated Press described the discontent of local fishermen who are now left with smaller catches<\/strong><\/a> due to the construction of the port:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur fishing spots no longer exist here. They destroyed them,\u201d said 78-year-old fisherman Julius Caesar \u2014 \u201clike the emperor of Rome\u201d \u2014 gesturing toward the dockside cranes. \u201cI don\u2019t blame the Chinese for trying to mine this place for all it\u2019s worth. I blame our government for not protecting us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n […] The dredging of the port \u2014 which sucked sediment from the seabed to create a shipping channel 17 meters (56 feet) deep \u2014 has ruined fish breeding grounds, locals said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ve been out in the water all day and I\u2019m always needing to venture farther,\u201d said Rafael \u00c1vila, a 28-year-old fisherman with sand in his hair, returning to shore empty-handed and exhausted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis used to be enough,\u201d he said, pointing at his painted dinghy. \u201cNow I need a larger, more expensive boat to reach the fish.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n […] With some of the world\u2019s largest container ships to berth at Chancay Port in January 2025, residents also fear the arrival of pollution and oil spills. In 2022, a botched tanker delivery at La Pampilla refinery nearby sent thousands of barrels of crude oil spilling into Peru\u2019s famously biodiverse waters, killing countless fish and putting legions of fishermen out of work. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The port is also a flashpoint between two superpowers vying for influence. Xi described the port in the context of China and Peru\u2019s \u201cfriendship and affection<\/a> [that] is rooted in the wisdom of our ancient civilizations.\u201d A Global Times editorial published this week added that the port \u201cis by no means a tool for geopolitical competition<\/a>.\u201d But some observers in the U.S. have taken a more skeptical position. General Laura Richardson, head of the U.S. Southern Command, warned that the port could also be used by the Chinese navy<\/a> for military and intelligence purposes. Xi and President Joe Biden may have a chance to discuss these underlying geopolitical tensions over the weekend in a meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit. James T. Areddy, Ryan Dub\u00e9, and Roque Ruiz at The Wall Street Journal situated China\u2019s economic growth in Latin America in relation to “U.S indifference” towards the region<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n On top of deepening economic linkages, Xi promotes a governance model that breaks with the U.S.-led postwar order that he suggests is an outdated relic of colonialism. Xi\u2019s sustained attention to the region \u201cis symbolic, and countries of the Global South need that recognition,\u201d said Alvaro Mendez, director of a unit at the London School of Economics and Political Science that studies China\u2019s influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n […] Chinese trade and investment have boomed across the approximately 40 nations of Latin America and the Caribbean, home to more than 660 million people stretching from Mexico to Chile and Argentina, plus island nations such as Jamaica and Cuba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n China\u2019s construction of infrastructure including ports to move commodities mirrors how, all over Asia and Africa, China under Xi has cemented its presence by building bridges, power plants and stadiums. China also has less of a debt-collector reputation in Latin America than it has in other developing parts of the world, in part because Beijing has slowed new project commitments and adjusted how it has financed some work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n […] China hasn\u2019t displaced the U.S. so much as it has taken advantage of uncontested opportunities, said Jorge Guajardo, a former Mexican ambassador to China now with the Washington advisory firm DGA Group. As he puts it, \u201cThe U.S. sees Latin America as \u2018ours to ignore.\u2019\u201d [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Xi Jinping\u2019s latest diplomatic tour began this week in Peru, where he will participate in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima and the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. On Thursday, Xi made headlines by inaugurating the megaport of Chancay, a major Chinese investment under the Belt and Road Initiative. The port […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1099,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[116,2,14744,17753],"tags":[588,17613,7069,15439,6192,1369,426,4356,1201,8231,17502,66,7701,796,5980,1793,14852,779,7500,504,6379],"class_list":["post-702586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world","category-economy","category-level-2-article","category-recent-news","tag-apec","tag-belt-and-road-initiative","tag-chinese-diplomacy","tag-chinese-investment","tag-competition","tag-diplomacy","tag-environment","tag-fishing","tag-foreign-investment","tag-g20","tag-global-influence","tag-infrastructure","tag-international-relations","tag-investment","tag-latin-america","tag-latin-america-chinas-rise","tag-maritime-security","tag-overseas-investment","tag-peru","tag-port","tag-united-states","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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