China's Xi arrives in Lima for APEC, to open Pacific megaport (updated)

COSCO SHIPPING Ports

14/11/2024 19:10

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      Xi to kick off week-long diplomatic blitz in Latin America
    

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      Peruvian port seen as major hub for trade to Asia
    

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      China now largest trading partner of some Latam countries 
    

  
 (Adds quotes and context in paragraph 4, 7-9, and 11)
    By Eduardo Baptista, Marco Aquino and Lucinda Elliott
       LIMA, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping
arrived in Lima on Thursday, kicking off a week-long diplomatic
blitz in Latin America by inaugurating the massive Chancay
deep-water port, one of Beijing's most ambitious infrastructure
investments in Latin America.
    Xi will participate in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) summit in Lima before heading to the Group of 20 summit
in Rio de Janeiro next week. Xi will also conduct state visits
to Peru and Brazil, both major sources of metal ores, soybeans,
and other commodities that sustain key Chinese industries like
electric vehicles and pork, as well as guaranteeing food
security for the country's population of 1.4 billion.
    Xi's first order of business in Lima is to headline an
inauguration ceremony for the Chancay port, along with Peru's
President Dina Boluarte. 
    "Chancay...will revolutionize trade and dynamize the
Asia-Pacific economy," Boluarte said in a speech on Thursday at
the APEC CEO Summit.
    The China-controlled megaport, built by Cosco Shipping Ports
 1199.HK  and located on Peru's Pacific coast north of Lima, has
already drawn $1.3 billion in Chinese investment, with billions
more expected as Beijing and Lima look to turn Chancay into a
major shipping hub between Asia and South America.
    "We need to jointly build and manage well the Chancay port,
make 'from Chancay to Shanghai' truly become a prosperous path
to promoting the joint development of China-Peru, and China-
Latin America," Xi wrote in an opinion article published on
Thursday in the official daily El Peruano.
    Mario Ocharan, Peruvian director of the Chancay Chamber of
Commerce told Reuters that the first ship was due to set sail
the week of November 18, transporting Peruvian fruit to China.
        The real aim of the megaport according to Ocharan was
access to neighboring Brazil, where a new railway line will
connect the port to Brazilian supplies. 
  
        "The Koreans and Chinese have expressed interest in
building the railway" he said.
  
    
    GEOPOLITICAL AND ECONOMIC HEADWINDS
    The inauguration of the port comes at a time when Beijing is
looking to further tap into resource-rich Latin American region,
amid trade tensions with Europe and concerns about future
tariffs from the incoming Trump administration. 
    Xi is being accompanied by a delegation of over 100 Chinese
business executives, including heads of companies with the
largest investments in Peru, including Cosco Shipping and mining
firm Chinalco, which owns the Toromocho copper mine.
    Chancay, China's largest investment in a Latin American
port, has raised alarm bells in Washington. General Laura
Richardson, former U.S. Southern Command chief, warned earlier
this month before retiring that Chancay could be used by the
Chinese military's navy and for intelligence-gathering.
    U.S. anxieties about Chancay reflect a broader, decades-long
shift in a region known as Washington's backyard that has seen
China overtake the United States to become the largest trading
partner of countries like Peru. 
    China's state-backed Global Times wrote in an editorial
published on Monday that the port was a "bridge for practical
cooperation between China and Latin America and is by no means a
tool for geopolitical competition", calling U.S. accusations of
the port's potential military use "smears".


 (Reporting by Eduardo Baptista, Marco Aquino, and Lucinda
Elliot in Lima, additional reporting by Zhang Yukun in Beijing;
Editing by Alistair Bell and Diane Craft)
 ((Eduardo.MonteiroBaptista@thomsonreuters.com;))