Implications of the establishment of COSCO Shipping´s first Megaport in Chancay, Peru on China's maritime geopolitics vis-à-vis the United States (2019–2026)

Abstract

In particular cases, companies can transcend their economic function into tools of geopolitical projection; this case reflected in the establishment of the first Chancay Megaport in Peru constitutes a breaking point in the maritime geopolitics of Western Hemisphere. For the first time, the state-owned China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) directly controls the most advanced port infrastructure, strategically located in Latin America, a region historically dominated by the influence of the United States, within the framework of the Chinese foreign policy of the “Belt and Road Initiative”. The geopolitical implications are significant, ranging from the reorganisation of Trans-Pacific routes and the reduction of Panama Canal’s centrality to the challenge that this development poses to US global supremacy. Its capacity goes beyond its automated system or its ability to accommodate heavy-lift vessels; the port holds strategic value: China’s entry as a key actor in the region’s decision-making, encouraging closer ties with Beijing, whilst simultaneously raising concerns in Washington over a possible and gradual displacement of its traditional influence. It is in this way that a deeper logic is revealed; such a port network lays the foundations for the port to be conceived as a military logistics artery, a matter of explicit concern to the United States. China has managed to gradually reshape its sphere of influence, moving from a peripheral to a central position within the International System, confirming its economic power and expansionist politics focus toward the control of commercial maritime routes.