US President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday expressed concern that China was costing Peru its sovereignty in solidifying control over the South American nation’s critical infrastructure, a blunt warning after a Peruvian court ruling restricted a local regulator’s oversight of a Chinese-built mega port.
The US$1.3 billion deepwater port in Chancay, north of Peru’s capital, Lima, has become a symbol of China’s foothold in Latin America and a lightning rod for tensions with Washington.
The US Department of State Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs wrote on social media that it was “concerned about latest reports that Peru could be powerless to oversee Chancay, one of its largest ports, which is under the jurisdiction of predatory Chinese owners.”
Photo: AFP
“We support Peru’s sovereign right to oversee critical infrastructure in its own territory. Let this be a cautionary tale for the region and the world: cheap Chinese money costs sovereignty,” it added.
The concern comes as the Trump administration seeks to assert dominance over the western hemisphere, where China has long built influence through massive loans and high trade volumes.
Chancay, along the Pacific coast, is part of Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative, an infrastructure program that has seen Chinese state-owned banks offer sizeable loans or financial guarantees to construct seaports, airports and highways, among other projects, across multiple continents.
As Latin America’s deepest port, Chancay is capable of berthing some of the world’s largest cargo ships traveling between Asia and South America. China has been Peru’s biggest trading partner for more than a decade now.
China’s state-owned shipping and logistics company Cosco, a majority shareholder in the port, dismissed the US claims.
It said the court ruling “in no way involves aspects of sovereignty” and insisted that the port remains “under the jurisdiction, sovereignty and control of Peruvian authorities, subject to all Peruvian regulations.”
It added that there were plenty of Peruvian authorities monitoring the port’s activities, including police, environmental regulators and customs officials.
The ruling issued on Jan. 29 by a lower court judge orders Peruvian authorities to refrain from exercising “powers of regulation, supervision, oversight and sanction” over the port in Chancay.
The Peruvian Supervisory Body for Investment in Public Use Transport Infrastructure (Ositran), which has oversight over all of the country’s other major ports, said it would appeal the decision, arguing that there was no reason to exempt Cosco Shipping from the agency’s oversight.
Cosco Shipping “would be the only company providing services to the public that could not be supervised,” Ositran president Veronica Zambrano told a local radio station Wednesday.
Although privately owned, the Port of Chancay covers 180 hectares of Peruvian territory, making it subject to government efforts to monitor and enforce compliance with local user protection standards, Zambrano added.
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