Chinese Megaport in Peru

This upsets me. Just got back from a trip to Peru, a country with great people, full of minerals, and heard about this from people in Lima that are outraged by it. I'm sure China paid off the corrupt politicians in Peru to get this and it is destroying a portion of the coast. Will provide China a port to export minerals from a mineral rich country along with soybeans being expanded in the rainforest in Brazil. Meanwhile US trade, and influence in the region, decreases as China forces their will on the people by buying the corrupt politicians and taking over the mining industry in Peru.

I was surprised by the number of Chinese businessmen that I saw at our hotel in Lima but maybe this explains it

By Chinese law, the port will also be made available to the Chinese military and provide a port for massive chinese fishing fleets to continue to rape the oceans off the coast of Peru and Argentina.

Not sure how american comapneis are supposed to compete in corrupt countries where politicians can be bought and American companies are being prosecuted in the US for bribing foreign officials

OT- trip report to Peru in the pub
Peru Trip Report - Cusco and Lima | Swamp Gas Forums (gatorcountry.com)
Peru Print

Inside the Chinese mega-port built in America’s backyard (msn.com)

Ms Arce is one of thousands of locals in the fishing town of Chancay, an hour’s drive north of the Peruvian capital Lima, impacted by the new £2.6 billion deepwater mega-port due to be personally inaugurated by Xi Jinping, China’s president, in November and then run privately by Cosco. They include everyone from homeowners whose houses have collapsed due to subsidence triggered by a tunnel servicing the port, reportedly the largest in South America, to local fishermen whose catches have plummeted. Yet locals’ grievances about the port pale into insignificance compared to its geopolitical repercussions – including the potential for Chancay to serve as a base for the Chinese navy, to project Beijing’s gathering military might across the Pacific.

In a conflict with the West, Chancay could even be used by the Chinese navy to support “operations against the west coast of the United States”, says Evan Ellis, a professor at the US Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. Publicly, Chancay is intended for civilian purpose, further integrating the Chinese and Latin American economies by funnelling raw materials to the Asian superpower from Argentina, Colombia, and all the countries in between. Its location will cut weeks from freight times for those commodities – including corn, soy, copper and lithium – in part by avoiding the long Atlantic detour up to the Panama Canal.
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The warning comes after China displaced the US as Latin America’s top trade partner, thanks in part to Belt and Road infrastructure projects. That watershed moment happened in 2018 when Donald Trump was US president. The gap has grown while Joe Biden has been in the White House. Total trade between Latin America and China hit $351 billion in 2022, compared to $297 billion between the region and the US.
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In 2019, Peru’s national maritime authority initially handed Cosco “exclusive” rights to operate Chancay as the country’s first-ever private port. This year, after Cosco had already spent roughly £1 billion on construction, the government abruptly tried to reverse that decision – possibly after prodding from the US embassy – claiming it violated Peruvian law, which does not allow private ports. But, when Cosco threatened to sue, Lima backed off and amended legislation to retroactively accommodate the deal. Overall, the saga has given the impression that the Chinese easily outwitted successive Peruvian governments distracted by chronic political turmoil.