FILE – China’s President Xi Jinping, right and Peru’s President Dina Boluarte shake hands during a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, June 28, 2024.
Latin American countries including Peru, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador, which had a combined export of $135 billion to China in 2023, could all benefit from the launch of the Chancay Port.
“There is a huge gap in infrastructure development in Global South countries and Western powers are not active in helping [to] fill the gap. [As a result,] China’s investments in such large infrastructure projects are welcomed by host countries,” Zhu at Bucknell University told VOA in a written response.
While Latin American countries will likely welcome the inauguration of the Chancay Port, the U.S. has warned about the potential for the port to be used for military purposes by China. That Washington claims could threaten its interests in Latin America.
“It could be used as a dual-use facility, it’s a deepwater port,” said Laura Richardson, the outgoing chief of the U.S. Southern Command told the Financial Times in a recent interview, adding that the Chinese navy could use the port in a scenario that, she said, fits “Beijing’s playbook.”
Some experts say it’s difficult for China to deploy its naval vessels to Latin America in the near future and that Peru is unlikely to let Beijing militarize the Chancay port.
“Currently, the Chinese navy is not capable of projecting its power across the Pacific, and since Peru still needs to maintain its relationship with the U.S., Peruvian authorities won’t allow the port to be militarized,” Kung Kwo-Wei, an expert of Latin American affairs at Tamkang University in Taiwan, told VOA by phone.
However, Lazarus told VOA that Beijing’s activities in other ports around the world suggest it could still use the Chancay port for military purposes in the future.
“When looking at Chinese behaviors [at other ports around the world], such as the Port of Bata in Equatorial Guinea and the Ream Naval Base in Cambodia, Chinese state-owned enterprises would promise to expand the ports for commercial purposes, yet there have been allegations that there’s been construction for what looks like military purposes on these areas,” said Lazarus.
In addition to the Chancay Port, Peruvian Foreign Minister Elmer Schialer told Reuters news agency in an exclusive interview that Beijing and Lima plan to sign around 30 agreements, including an updated free trade agreement, during Xi’s visit.
Kung in Taiwan said these developments show that China’s investment in Latin America is now focusing on logistical infrastructure and access to minerals from Latin America.
“China relies heavily on ports and logistical infrastructure to ensure it can export and import commodities at a steady pace, and as Beijing continues to expand its renewable energy industries, its appetite for minerals from Latin America will also grow,” Kung told VOA.
As the U.S. could possibly adopt a more isolationist foreign policy approach during Trump’s second term, Lazarus said Xi will use the upcoming APEC and G20 summits to amplify the message that China is a more consistent global power than the U.S.
“While the U.S. is going to potentially look inward with another Trump administration, [the summits] are Xi’s big opportunities to show that China is playing a much more global role,” he told VOA.
However, some experts say it remains unclear whether China will achieve its intended goals.
“Beijing will double down on the image of being the leader of the Global South and some countries will be attracted by that message,” said Ian Chong, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore.
“But others who are more clear-eyed and who have followed developments from the Belt and Road Initiative and other Chinese projects will recognize that China is just another great power,” he told VOA in a phone interview.
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Publish date : 2024-11-13 01:39:00
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