The Latin American Report # 371

Peru's embattled President Dina Boluarte hosted a new edition of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summits this week. Amid a busy agenda, Boluarte set aside space to meet with the CEO of Tiktok—which has more than 16 million very active users there—and Google's global vice president for Government Affairs and Public Policy. With the leader of the competitive Asian social media company Boluarte reportedly exchanged proposals of “joint actions to contribute to inclusive economic growth” in Peru. She discussed “investment issues [...] in artificial intelligence training for Peruvian teachers and students” with the Google man. For example, it is known that the American tech giant will allocate more than 500 million dollars to finance an artificial intelligence literacy program that will benefit some 50,000 educators and students from public schools located in vulnerable areas. However, the APEC summit in Lima has undoubtedly stood out for showing China's rise as a sound regional trade partner. Xi Jinping inaugurated a $1.3 billion-valued 15-berth deep-water port in Chancay, Peru.

“China is willing to work with the Peruvian side to take the Chancay project as a starting point to forge a new maritime-land corridor between China and Latin America and connect the Great Inca Trail,” said Xi, who presented the mega-port as part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, whose first cargo will consist of Peruvian fruits. Efficiency in bilateral maritime trade should increase by 20%. However, it is noted, China's main focus here is to improve the supply chain with Brazil by connecting the port to a new railway line planned to transport products from the South American giant such as soybeans and iron ore. Speaking of supply chain, the world's third-largest planemaker, the Brazilian Embraer, announced last Wednesday that it aimed to improve its relationship with Chinese suppliers while participating in the Asian giant's most important air show, based in Zhuhai. Embraer's chief commercial officer sees the Chinese president's visit to Brazil next week—in the framework of a new G20 summit—as “an exciting moment [...] to [have] that [supply chain] conversation with Chinese [partners] and looking how we evolve".

Predictably, Washington, alert to China's aggressive economic agenda in the region, but not very active or interested in it, has raised doubts about the potential military use of the Chancay mega-port by Beijing, the first trading partner of several Latin American countries, including Peru, Brazil, and Paraguay—despite the latter's historic ties with Taiwan. Even in cases such as El Salvador, whose president—according to this AP wire—would be very eager to work with the next head of Foggy Bottom, at least a pragmatic vision of foreign policy is noted, without aligning with a single actor. “We should dismantle the high wall that divides the flow of trade, investment, technology and services, and maintain a stable and smooth industrial supply chain”, Xi said today, in a clear allusion to the next US administration, which is presumed to be protectionist. Trump's victory has been a heavy shadow during these summit days in Peru. The 21 economies gathered in the APEC group “account for almost two-thirds of global GDP and half the world's trade”. A meeting between an overshadowed Biden and his Chinese counterpart was also scheduled for today.

But while presidents and representatives of the forum's member countries parade down the red carpet, schism and social conflict continue to grow in Peru—almost at the same rate as the statistics affirm that the economy grows in the copper-rich nation—with massive—and repressed—protests staged by unions and social organizations that criticize government management, mainly in areas such as security.

In other news, this has been a devastating hurricane season for Central America 👇

And this is all for our report today. I have referenced the sources dynamically in the text, and remember you can learn how and where to follow the LATAM trail news by reading my work here. Have a nice day.