The United States Department of State’s Office for Western Hemisphere Affairs criticized in a post on the X network this Wednesday (11) the Peruvian court’s decision that limits the Peruvian regulatory body’s actions over the port of Chancay, which was built and is mostly operated by China.
In the publication, the Office said that the American government is “concerned about reports that Peru may be unable to supervise (the port of) Chancay, one of its largest ports, under the jurisdiction of predatory Chinese owners.” The text adds that Washington supports “Peru’s sovereign right to oversee critical infrastructure on its own territory” and concludes with a warning: “Let this serve as a lesson for the region and the world: cheap Chinese money costs sovereignty.”
The demonstration occurred following a decision by the First Specialized Court in Constitutional Matters of Lima, which upheld an action presented by the company Cosco Shipping Ports Chancay Peru SA, a Chinese state-owned company that has control over the port of Chancay. According to the court decision, the Supervisory Body for Investment in Transport Infrastructure for Public Use (Ositrán), a supervisory body of the Peruvian government, must refrain from exercising supervision, inspection, sanction and regulation functions over port terminal operations, except in specific situations related to the setting of tariffs and under conditions established in the sentence.
According to information released by the Peruvian press, the president of Ositrán, Verónica Zambrano, classified the case as “unprecedented” and stated that a regulated entity had never gone to court to prevent the enforcement of the law by the supervisory body. The entity announced that it will appeal against the decision, which was handed down in the first instance and has not yet become final.
According to official data, the port of Chancay, located in the Lima region, is 60% operated by the state-owned Cosco Shipping Ports and 40% by the Peruvian company Volcan. The venture is considered strategic due to its potential to transform Peru into a logistics center between Asia and South America.
