"From Chancay to Shanghai" -- Belt and Road cooperation flourishing in Latin America

BEIJING, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- "True friends always feel close to each other no matter the distance between them." Chinese President Xi Jinping has cited this household line from an ancient Chinese poem to characterize China's relations with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Xi calls Peru China's neighbor across the Pacific. Although the two countries are thousands of miles apart, a port scheduled to be inaugurated later this month will further enhance their "neighborliness."

Chancay, located about 78 km north of Lima, the Peruvian capital, is a natural deep-water port. Once in operation, it will become a major gateway to the oceans and a crucial hub in the South Pacific, helping redistribute cargo from countries such as Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, and Paraguay. Moreover, the sea freight time from South America to Asia will be reduced by half, from 45 days to 23.

The port is a significant collaborative project between China and Peru, in which Xi has played a decisive role. When meeting with Peruvian President Dina Boluarte during her visit to Beijing in June, Xi called for joint efforts to complete the port on schedule and build it into a new land-sea corridor between China and Latin America.

"'From Chancay to Shanghai' has become a catchphrase in Peru, indicating a bright future of mutually beneficial cooperation between the two nations," Xi told his Peruvian counterpart.

Even though Chancay and Shanghai have similar Spanish pronunciations that may confuse many, people in Peru embrace this catchphrase with passion, hoping that Chancay may turn into Peru's Shanghai in the future.

As a flagship Belt and Road cooperation project, the port will not only boost trade between the two countries but also bolster connectivity within and beyond the continent.

Over the past decade, China and Latin America have become partners under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by Xi. So far, 22 countries in the region have signed BRI cooperation documents with China. Projects jointly built under the BRI, including the Belo Monte Hydropower Plant ultra-high-voltage transmission line in Brazil, Argentina's Belgrano Cargas railway and the Jamaica North-South Highway, have borne fruit.

"China and Latin America enjoy strong economic complementarities. Their development strategies are mutually aligned, and they have natural advantages for strengthening cooperation," Xi has said.

Since 2012, China has been Latin America's second-largest trading partner. In 2022, trade between the two sides grew 7.7 percent year on year to reach 485.7 billion U.S. dollars. According to a recently released report by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, China will be the region's fastest-growing export market this year.

With the Chancay Port, trade between China and Latin America is expected to soar further. "The Chancay Port will help Peru improve shipping efficiency and deepen trade cooperation with Asia," said David Gamero, a deputy manager at the Chancay megaport project.■