The vessel Xin Shanghai berth at Yangshan Port, Shanghai on December 18, 2024, after a 23-day journey from Chancay Port in Peru. Photo: IC

Four months have passed since the opening of the Chancay Port in Peru. Situated 80 kilometers north of the capital Lima, this megaport, invested by Chinese enterprises, has significantly reduced the transportation time of goods exported from South America to the Asian market from about 35 days to 25 days. The project benefits various industries and businesses in Peru and beyond, across Latin America, serving as a new example of cooperation between China and Latin America under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

In Lima, many people know that the Chancay Port, which is the only smart, green, and deep port in South America, has a huge impact not only on Peru, but also on the neighbors and South America as a whole, Peru's Ambassador to China Marco Vinicio Balarezo Lizarzaburu told media during just concluded two sessions on March 9.

The benefits and development opportunities that the Chancay Port brings to South American countries including Peru are evident. However, this achievement seems to have displeased the US.

From an earlier proposal of a 60-percent tariff on goods entering the US through the Chancay Port, to Trump's inaugural speech claiming that China "controlled" the Panama Canal, the US has been meddling in issues related to the Chancay Port and the Panama Canal, causing unease among some South American countries. 

Its narratives, including claims that the port has brought a "military threat" to Peru and that it was realized through "economic coercion," are actually clichéd rumors increasingly regurgitated by the US since construction of the project began in 2021.

Zhu Feng, director of School of International Studies at Nanjing University, told Singapore-based Lianhe Zaobao in February that the Panama Canal issue reflects the US government's intention to compress China's BRI cooperation in Latin America, and "there will definitely be further actions [from the country]." 

Zhu speculated that the Chancay Port may be the next target of US pressure on China.

However, the skepticism and smears surrounding the Chancay Port cannot overshadow the tangible benefits it has already brought to Peru and other related countries. Statistic data and voices from Peru have demonstrated that this Chinese-invested project has been, and will continue to be, beneficial for Latin America and its people.

Win-win cooperation

On an early spring day at a dock in the Waigaoqiao port area of Shanghai, 301 Chinese domestically produced cars were loaded onto the ship Yuheng Pioneer, awaiting export to the Chancay Port. The day before, the shipping vessel Prince Rupert of China COSCO Shipping Corp (COSCO), which had departed from Chancay, docked at a terminal in Shanghai's Yangshan Port, unloading 509 tons of imported goods including fish meal.

Such a busy and orderly scene is a common sight at Shanghai's ports. Currently, the "Chancay-Shanghai" shipping route operates two regular weekly services between Chancay and Shanghai, as reported by the People's Daily on March 4. Products from China and Peru are continuously and efficiently reaching each other's markets through this new route.

Since the launch of this new shipping route, Shanghai Customs has supervised the import and export of 22,000 tons of goods valued at 610 million yuan ($84.2). The Chancay Port has reduced logistics costs for shipping from Peru to China by over 20 percent, according to the People's Daily.

Data shows how trade between China and Peru has further flourished through the Chancay Port. According to statistics from Shanghai Customs, in December 2024, the first month following the launch of the direct shipping route from Chancay to Shanghai, the total import and export value at the Shanghai ports with Peru reached 4.68 billion yuan, marking a year-on-year increase of 46.1 percent. In the whole year of 2024, the total import and export value between the Shanghai ports and Peru amounted to 51.5 billion yuan, a 23-percent increase compared to the previous year.

Peru is one of the first Latin American countries to participate in the BRI. China is also Latin America's second-largest trading partner, with trade volume reaching $427.4 billion with this region in the first three quarters of 2024.

"The expectation we have regarding China is extremely high," Juan José Santivá?ez, interior minister of Peru, told the Global Times in previous interview. He said that Chancay places Peru as one of the main players in Latin America, becoming the most important hub, and will definitely contribute greatly to the economy of Peru.

Powerful counterattack

A crane lifts a container amid construction at the Chancay Port, Peru, on October 29, 2024. Photo: VCG

The win-win project of Chancay, however, has been described by some in the US as a "threat" to the US security and economic interests in Latin America.

The US has been hyping smears against the project since the construction of the Chancay Port began. And in recent months, it has intensified their efforts in continuously reviving false narratives such as "military use" and "economic coercion" of the port, maliciously portraying China's "expansion of influence" in Latin America.

"China is exercising our playbook" of being present economically and equipping the US' hemispheric neighbors militarily, the then US Southern Command's commander Laura Richardson told the US House Armed Services Committee in March, according to the US Naval Institute website. Richardson later hinted to the Financial Times (FT) that Chancay "could be used by Beijing's navy," FT reported on November 4, 2024.

Theoretically speaking, nowadays many large commercial ports around the world are capable of accommodating warships, and the claim that China helped build the Chancay Port for its military purposes is logically untenable, said Lü Xiang, an expert in US studies at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "Aside from friendly exchanges, I see no reason for the Chinese Navy to deploy warships there."

The claim that China is using the Chancay Port to economically coerce Peru is yet another false assertion propagated by the US. 

In October 2024, the Diálogo Americas website published two articles about Chancy replete with defamatory statements against the port and China. The first article published on October 18 extensively portrayed Chancay as China's economic pressure tool. "We are facing a clear example of China's economic coercion, which takes advantage of the economic dependence it has generated in countries like Peru to pressure and penalize if a country tries to change the rules of the game," the article cited an Argentine writer and journalist Agustín Barletti as saying.

The quadrilingual website that is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Haitian Creole, appears to be backed by local media or academic institutions in Latin America. However, it is actually a digital military magazine published by the US Southern Command, the Global Times found.

Economist and senior fellow at the Center for International Security and Strategy, Tsinghua University, Yu Xiang, refuted this false claim. Yu explained that Chancay project follows the typical BOT (build-operate-transfer) model, a form of project delivery method common seen all over the world, particularly for large-scale infrastructure projects.

"The BOT mode model was not originally created by China; it is something that Chinese enterprises learned from the West," Yu told the Global Times.

Data shows that Chancay can bring significant benefits to Peru's economy. The port is expected to generate $4.5 billion in annual economic benefit for Peru, equivalent to 1.8 percent of the country's GDP. The construction of the port generated 1,300 direct jobs, and around 8,000 indirect jobs due to the economic dynamics already observed in the area, according to Lima-based magazine AméricaEconomía.

Including the Chancay project, the BRI cooperation "attracts and increases investment in key sectors, supporting economic development and job creation," Luis Cabello, commercial counsellor, and representative of Promperú (Promotion Agency of Peru for Exports and Tourism), in Beijing, told the Global Times in a previous interview.

More than 20 Latin American countries have signed cooperation agreements under the BRI.

"China welcomes increased investment and cooperation in Latin America from all countries, including the US, to jointly promote the prosperity and development of the region," said Lü. "The US should recognize that instead of futilely hyping up the supposed 'threats' posed by some Chinese projects there, it would be more productive to focusing on creating tangible benefits for the people of Latin America."

Anchoring Prosperity