By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
CHANCAY, PERU (Worthy News) – China’s President Xi Jinping has inaugurated a controversial massive port on the edge of Peru’s coastal desert that locals fear will leave many of them without a hopeful future.
The mega port of Chancay, a remote fishing town where a third of its 63,000 residents lack running water, is a $1.3 billion project majority-owned by the Chinese shipping giant Cosco.
Xi and Peruvian President Dina Boluarte participated on Thursday by video link in the opening of the Chancay port, about 80 kilometers (48 miles) north of the capital, Lima, on the Pacific Ocean.
Xi said that Chancay, a 15-berth, deep-water port, was the successful start of a “21st century maritime Silk Road” and part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, its modern revival of the ancient Silk Road trading route.
“It is very important that we work together to ensure the success of Chancay Port from construction through operation so that the route from Chancay to Shanghai will lead China, Peru, and Latin America to common development and prosperity,” Xi said earlier in a signed editorial Thursday that ran in the local newspaper El Peruano.
Don’t tell that to 78-year-old fisherman Julius Caesar (“like the emperor of Rome,” he says). “Our fishing spots no longer exist here. They destroyed them,” he told The Associated Press (AP) news agency, gesturing toward the dockside cranes. “I don’t blame the Chinese for trying to mine this place for all it’s worth it. I blame our government for not protecting us.”
INCREASING FOOTPRINT
It comes as China increases its footprint across resources-rich South America as part of broader efforts to rival the United States. Xi attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Lima as a sign of that cooperation.
However, Washington has watched with unease over the years as China established deep trading relationships with countries across Latin America. Yet Matt Murray, the senior State Department official dealing with APEC issues, insisted to the Voice of America (VOA) broadcaster that the port was “not a source of concern” for the Biden administration.
“I don’t necessarily see this as complicating our relationship in the region,” he told VOA. “We view it as a natural part of business that Latin American countries will have diverse trade and investment partners.”
However, with some of the world’s largest container ships to berth at Chancay Port in January 2025, residents fear the arrival of pollution and oil spills, further impacting fishing stocks.
In 2022, a botched tanker delivery at the nearby La Pampilla refinery sent thousands of barrels of crude oil spilling into Peru’s famously biodiverse waters, displacing legions of fishermen.
Today, reporters noticed that a glance at the dying town center, mainly featuring empty seafood restaurants, tells the story of diminished fishing stocks and decimated tourism even without the port being operational.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
Israel expanded its military campaign against Hezbollah on Monday, striking more than 70 targets across Lebanon as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to increase pressure on the Iranian-backed terror group following a sharp rise in drone and rocket attacks on northern Israel.
A federal appeals court is weighing whether Kansas City can use its public accommodation ordinance to require Christian counselors to counsel gay married couples despite the counselors’ biblical convictions on marriage and sexuality.
Tens of thousands of evangelical Christians gathered in the Netherlands for one of Europe’s largest multi-day Christian events, with organizers and participants expressing hopes for spiritual revival in the nation and across Europe.
President Donald Trump pushed back Monday against sharp criticism from Republicans and former administration officials over a potential U.S.-Iran agreement, insisting that any final accord must prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon or it will not be signed.
President Donald Trump said Monday that countries involved in negotiations over Iran should be required to join the Abraham Accords, signaling that the White House is seeking to turn a possible Iran agreement into a wider regional realignment that includes normalization with Israel.
Tensions remained high in Serbia’s capital Belgrade on Sunday after at least tens of thousands of people demanded elections and rallied against what they view as the increasingly authoritarian rule of President Aleksandar Vučić, with violence erupting after the protest and more than 20 people arrested.
Investigations were ongoing Sunday into the killing of three senior Kuki-Thadou Christian church leaders by unidentified gunmen in India’s northeastern Manipur State, Christian investigators told Worthy News.