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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

By Eduardo Baptista and Marco Aquino

LIMA, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping

will arrive 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

summit in Lima and then 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, 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. The China-controlled megaport, built by

Cosco Shipping Ports ( CSPKF ) and located on Peru's Pacific

coast, 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.

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.

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".