As a flagship China-Peru connectivity project, Chancay Port is evolving from a bilateral cooperation achievement into a broader issue for Asia-Pacific cooperation, reflecting China's efforts to use its APEC host year to advance regional connectivity and economic integration.
Photo from Jiemian News
By RONG Xiaolan
PhD, lecturer at the Institute for Overseas Chinese Studies and Regional and Country Studies, Wuyi University
This article was translated and edited from the original Chinese version.
In November 2026, Shenzhen will host the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting under the theme "Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together", with a focus on openness, innovation and cooperation.
At a press conference on preparations for the summit in May, the China Public Diplomacy Association proposed positioning Peru's Chancay Port as a strategic trade and logistics hub linking China and Latin America and bringing it into the agenda for this year's APEC discussions.
As a flagship China-Peru connectivity project, Chancay Port is poised to move beyond a bilateral cooperation achievement and take on broader significance for Asia-Pacific multilateral cooperation. From China's perspective, this reflects an effort to use its role as APEC host to participate more actively in regional economic governance and promote deeper economic integration.
At a time when Asia-Pacific trade governance is becoming increasingly fragmented, trans-Pacific connectivity remains inadequate and major Chinese overseas projects face greater geopolitical uncertainty and external interference, Chancay offers a useful lens through which to examine China's regional strategy. This article looks at the considerations behind bringing the port into the APEC discussion from four perspectives: diplomacy, trade and economic development, institution-building and risk management.
Host diplomacy allows a country to make use of its position as organiser to shape discussions, build consensus and help set the direction of regional cooperation. As protectionism spreads globally and geopolitical tensions increasingly spill over into trade and investment, the ability to shape the agenda has become an important part of participation in regional economic governance.
The Asia-Pacific is home to some of the world's most dynamic industrial and supply chains, but cross-Pacific economic links continue to face several constraints. Direct shipping routes remain limited and costly, traditional infrastructure such as ports and airports requires further upgrading, digitalisation is uneven, and regional trade structures remain imbalanced. These shortcomings have constrained progress in trade and investment facilitation between the Asia-Pacific and Latin America.
Chancay Port, around 70km north of Lima, was developed with the participation of China's Cosco Shipping and began operations in November 2024. It has opened a more direct logistics route between the Asia-Pacific and Latin America, improving shipping efficiency between China and Peru and strengthening its role as a gateway on South America's Pacific coast.
By bringing Chancay-related connectivity cooperation into the APEC framework, China is seeking to turn the results of bilateral infrastructure cooperation into a platform with wider regional benefits. The aim is for the gains from China-Peru cooperation to extend to more Asia-Pacific economies and help address gaps in cross-regional connectivity.
Such an approach is consistent with APEC's objective of supporting sustainable growth and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific, while also reflecting China's emphasis on practical cooperation, openness and mutually beneficial development in its host diplomacy.
At the 2014 APEC meeting in Beijing, members formally launched the process towards a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, or FTAAP. Progress since then has fallen short of expectations, constrained by differences in development levels, fragmented trade rules and intensifying competition among major economies.
Twelve years later, China's return as APEC host provides an opportunity to give renewed momentum to regional economic integration.
As an important transport hub linking the Asia-Pacific with Latin America, Chancay Port can play a role in integrating regional supply chains, connecting trade resources and facilitating the movement of industrial inputs.
Bringing the port into broader APEC cooperation could help participating economies move beyond geographical divisions and develop stronger land-sea links across the Pacific. Greater connectivity between logistics networks, industrial and supply chains and consumer markets would in turn support deeper regional economic integration.
China can also use cooperation around Chancay to strengthen links with Latin American APEC economies such as Peru, Chile and Mexico. Greater coordination in areas including customs rules, logistics standards, customs-clearance data and supply chains could gradually expand bilateral port cooperation into a broader form of institutional opening and provide practical support for the development of the FTAAP.
More than three decades after its establishment, APEC remains the Asia-Pacific's highest-level and most broadly representative intergovernmental forum for economic cooperation, but has long faced structural constraints including a relatively low level of institutionalisation, limited implementation capacity and a weakening governance role.
In recent years, unilateralism, major-power competition and protectionism have placed greater pressure on multilateral cooperation, while more exclusive regional arrangements have added to concerns about fragmentation in the Asia-Pacific economy.
The Shenzhen APEC meeting has emphasised responding to protectionism through openness, creating new growth through innovation and addressing fragmentation through cooperation, with the aim of returning regional economic cooperation to its core purpose.
Chancay Port offers a mature, practical and relatively inclusive platform for such cooperation. Its potential reach extends beyond China and Peru, creating scope for broader cooperation in port logistics, cross-border trade, digital customs clearance and supply-chain coordination.
Bringing such practical projects into the APEC framework could help members build consensus around development, counter protectionist pressures and inject new momentum into multilateral cooperation. It could also strengthen APEC's role in regional economic governance by linking broader policy goals with concrete projects.
Bilateral cooperation can be vulnerable to changes in domestic politics and bilateral relations. Multilateral mechanisms, by contrast, can provide greater resilience through broader consensus, shared rules and a wider range of participating interests.
This is particularly relevant as China-US competition intensifies and the Trump administration strengthens its strategic presence in Latin America through a series of unilateral actions. Peru is also approaching an election, adding uncertainty to the domestic political environment. Diverging interests among different parties could affect the long-term operation of Chancay Port.
Against this backdrop, bringing the project into the APEC agenda and encouraging more economies and market participants to become involved could help reduce its exposure to external shocks.
A multilateral framework can help cushion the impact of political changes in individual bilateral relationships by creating a broader base of shared regional interests. APEC's consultation mechanisms can also provide a platform for balancing interests, managing differences and strengthening the institutional foundations for the long-term development of Chancay Port.
More broadly, such an approach could provide a more stable framework for practical cooperation between China and Latin America.
With the global economic recovery still facing headwinds and the regional landscape undergoing profound change, the 2026 APEC meeting in Shenzhen provides China with an opportunity to place connectivity at the center of a new phase of Asia-Pacific cooperation.
Chancay Port can serve as an important point of support for this effort. China’s host diplomacy responds to practical regional development needs by strengthening the infrastructure underpinning economic integration, building consensus around cooperation, improving coordination mechanisms and helping manage risks.
If a broader multilateral cooperation framework around Chancay takes shape, it could deepen economic links between the Asia-Pacific and Latin America, strengthen integration between two important emerging-market regions, and contribute to a more open world economy and improved global economic governance.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author.
