Peru President José Jerí’s downfall began with a secret late-night dinner. After that dinner, a series of similar secret meetings took place – in one meeting, he wore sunglasses, in another, he covered his face with a hood.
Later, related videos leaked, causing a stir nationwide. Three-quarters of Peru’s parliamentarians voted to condemn the president, just four months into his term. Jerí is the seventh president of Peru in the last ten years.
One of the 75 parliamentary members who voted to impeach the president, Ruth Luque, said, “We demand an end to this ordeal so that we can truly achieve the transformation that the people long for. We do not want to see a transformation filled with behind-the-scenes interests, power plays, secret meetings, and masked figures. We do not want this kind of transformation.”
The man who had secret meetings with President Jerí was Yang Zhihua, owner of Chinese restaurants and wholesale stores in Peru, who serves as a key figure behind several major Chinese infrastructure projects in the country.
This scandal, dubbed “Chifagate”, added another layer of complexity to the already tense relationship between the two countries.
Currently, Peru is striving to regain control of the important port of Chancay, which is controlled by China and has become a symbol of Chinese influence in Latin America.
Throughout the Latin American region, Chinese influence has become deeply rooted, allowing this communist regime to redefine the dynamics in America’s backyard.
In the 2000s, Chinese investment levels here were almost negligible. However, now China has become the dominant force in Latin America and the Caribbean. By 2024, bilateral trade volume had exceeded $500 billion U.S. dollars. For many countries like Brazil and Peru, China has replaced the U.S. as a significant trading partner.
Ding Hongbin, Associate Dean of the Sellinger School of Business and Management at Loyola University Maryland, stated that Beijing has accumulated significant influence over the past two decades.
“The Chinese Communist Party’s influence in Latin America is part of a long-term strategy,” he told the Epoch Times.
Through injecting funds into Latin America, Beijing is amassing political influence, seeking to challenge the U.S.-led world order. He said that after twenty years, “the war has already reached the doorstep of the American homeland.”
In Washington, it is now explicitly stated that this situation cannot continue. In the national security strategy released in November, led by U.S. President Donald Trump, Latin America was listed as a top priority, emphasizing the need to prevent “non-Hemispheric competitors” from gaining a foothold in the Western Hemisphere, which is deemed a “major strategic mistake” made by the U.S. in recent decades.
The national security strategy pointed out that past inaction has not only caused “current economic losses” to the U.S. but also “future strategic losses.”
A few weeks after the strategy was released, the U.S. military arrested Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and terminated Venezuela’s dealings with the Chinese regime.
Just hours before his arrest, Maduro met with a Chinese envoy at the presidential palace. He received a porcelain jar from the Chinese side and took a photo with the Chinese representative, then claimed on social media that the meeting reaffirmed the two countries’ “unbreakable brotherhood” through “thick and thin.”
This “brotherhood” is Beijing’s leverage.
Last September, Maduro proudly displayed the red Huawei foldable screen phone he uses every day – a gift from Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
“It’s the most advanced phone in the world,” he said.
“Even Americans can’t listen in,” he told reporters.
For the Chinese regime, this moment proves its victory in the struggle for technological dominance, with Huawei playing a leading role.
This Chinese telecommunications giant, blacklisted by the U.S., has been steadily expanding its influence in telecommunications across the Americas. It dominates the Digital Silk Road project, a core component of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to expand the communist regime’s power and influence globally through hefty investments.
Huawei’s data storage platform now covers all Latin American countries and shows the fastest business growth rate in the telecommunications industry. By 2020, Brazil tried to prevent Huawei from participating in its 5G network construction for national security reasons, revealing the seriousness of the issue. Huawei’s technology had already been integrated into Brazil’s telecom infrastructure, and replacing this technology would cost billions of dollars.
In 2022, Huawei signed an agreement to turn Curitiba, a city in southern Brazil, into a 5G smart city, integrating artificial intelligence and big data into various aspects of city life, from medical surgeries to public safety. An interview report with the city mayor was published on Huawei’s website, where the mayor praised Curitiba as a “smart city serving its citizens.”
Huawei is not the only Chinese company expanding in Latin America. Data from Canalys, a global renowned market research firm based in Singapore, shows that Chinese smartphone brands currently hold more than 60% market share in Latin America.
In Ecuador, the ECU911 system, manufactured in China, powers surveillance cameras across the country and sends real-time footage to thousands of police officers responsible for handling everything from traffic to national security. Xi Jinping once praised the massive scale of this cooperation, calling it the “business card for high-tech cooperation between China and Latin America.”
Evan Ellis, a Latin America research professor at the U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute, explained that by law, if the Chinese regime demands, Chinese companies have no choice but to hand over all data to the government. It is this reason that ubiquitous Chinese companies in Latin America have become a problem.
Ellis explained to the Epoch Times that large amounts of data are generated in corporate boardrooms, factory workshops, and people’s homes, with the crucial question being where these data will ultimately flow. He stated that federal institutions in Latin America using Chinese technology face the risk of extortion.
Beijing describes its vision for Latin America as “building a China-Latin America community with a shared future.”
Xi Jinping was the first to propose this concept. In 2014, during a speech at the Brazilian National Congress, he likened China’s relationship with Latin America to aged tequila, saying it “grows better as it ages.”
Florencia Huang, a Latin America research professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan, told the Epoch Times, “Xi Jinping’s idea is to ‘rebuild from the roots, rally 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries to ally with China, and exclude the U.S.'”
Under this banner, the Chinese regime attracted over twenty Latin American and Caribbean countries to join the Belt and Road Initiative. Subsequently, hundreds of infrastructure projects were launched.
At the forefront is the Chancay Port project, costing $1.3 billion and located about 50 miles from the Peruvian capital, Lima. This deep-water port spans approximately 445 acres and is a major logistics hub for China along the Pacific coast of Latin America. The strategic location of Chancay Port provides a direct link between South America and China, shortening transport time by nearly half while facilitating Beijing’s access to crucial mineral resources for industrial needs.
China’s shipping giant, COSCO, has exclusive operation rights for the port for 30 years. In 2024, the Peruvian Port Authority attributed this decision to an “administrative error,” attempting to revoke the clause; however, these efforts quickly ended in failure as the Peruvian Congress approved an amendment, legalizing COSCO’s transaction.
COSCO then scored another victory on January 29, 2026, as a Peruvian court limited the Peruvian government’s supervision over the port’s operation. The U.S. issued a warning, stating that Peru may forfeit sovereignty over its “key infrastructure within its national territory,” handing it over to “plundering Chinese proprietors.”
“This should serve as a warning for the region and the world at large: obtaining cheap Chinese funding comes with the cost of losing sovereignty,” the U.S. Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs stated in a February release.
Ellis also referred to development projects like Chancay Port as “predatory” projects. Chancay Port is one of about 40 ports in Latin America with Chinese investment. Similar Chinese-led projects are evident in critical areas like mineral extraction, logistics, and renewable energy.
Ellis believed that the common pattern in these projects is first gaining access to strategic sectors and then controlling the supply chain.
“If you want to take the cheapest and quickest route, you need to work with the Chinese. This gives them leverage in negotiations,” Ellis said.
He explained that they could gradually push other shipping alliances out of the market and monopolize the most crucial trans-Pacific routes.
As a state-owned enterprise, COSCO has long cooperated closely with the Chinese military in the 2010s, providing logistical support in Lebanon and Yemen.
If a military crisis occurs – such as a conflict with the U.S. in the Indo-Pacific region – Ellis suggested that COSCO officials “will exploit their exclusive control of the port in any way to provide supplies to (the Chinese) Liberation Army ships.”
The Epoch Times reached out to COSCO for comments on this matter.
In the heart of the Patagonian desert in Argentina, behind an eight-foot-high barbed wire fence lies a secret space station operated by a Chinese entity under the Chinese military’s Strategic Support Force. External individuals must make appointments in advance to access this site.
Satellite image analysis revealed four strategic facilities with exceptional locations within about 100 miles south of the Florida coast in Cuba, reportedly associated with China, equipped with antennas and other equipment to gather intelligence on the U.S. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) based in Washington, D.C., stated that at least one of these facilities underwent an upgrade in 2025, likely significantly improving its surveillance capabilities.
China’s building of competitive advantages goes beyond invisible means like secret intelligence gathering and dual-use facilities. The Chinese regime has been remarkably successful in activities that enhance personal connections, drawing more attention.
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) reported that in the past two decades, senior Chinese military leaders visited Latin American regions hundreds of times. Simultaneously, the two sides engaged in various military exchanges, joint exercises, and arms sales activities.
RAND Corporation, a prominent think tank based in California, stated in a 2022 study funded by the Pentagon that Beijing also offered numerous perks, such as offering free training to Latin American military officials, business-class travel, and stays in five-star hotels in China.
The Chinese government records show that through a national project called “Bridge of the Future,” over 1,000 Latin American political figures and “young leaders” have visited China.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stated in May 2025 that Beijing planned to invite 300 Latin American representatives to China each year in the following three years.
Beijing’s influence actions toward individuals have proven effective.
In 2023, a Honduran congressional staffer enthusiastically talked about China’s poverty alleviation campaign to China’s official media during a visit to a Chinese “red tourism” village, calling China the creator of a “miracle in human history.”
Many other Latin American officials testified similarly afterward. An Argentine colonel praised the Belt and Road Initiative, while a major general believed that the Chinese regime’s COVID-19 global pandemic control measures “bought time for the West.”
Understanding the Chinese regime’s level of importance in these projects can be gauged by reading China’s white papers aligned with U.S. national security strategy. Ellis expressed surprise in reading China’s white paper, stating that the sheer number of projects the Chinese regime had launched targeting individuals was astonishing.
“The Communist Party of China casts its net wide,” he said.
“Just like sowing seeds,” he explained. Among these individuals, only a small fraction may become important figures in the future; however, it is this small fraction that, he said, “opens the door to other more sinister relationships.”
Ellis observed this in his own social circle. One of his Panamanian friends received a four-year scholarship to study in Shanghai at Fudan University. Years later, when Ellis met him again, this Chinese university graduate had become a technical representative for Panama involved in free trade negotiations with Beijing.
Ellis mentioned another example, Nicole Wong, a former director at Panama’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who is Panamanian and studied Mandarin at Jinan University in southern Guangzhou. Jinan University is a school under the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party. The United Front Work Department is an institution through which the Chinese Communist Party spreads influence globally. In 2018, Jinan University became a designated training base for Confucius Institutes, another United Front Work Department project aimed at promoting communist propaganda under the guise of language teaching.
In 2017, Nicole played a crucial role in guiding Panama closer to the Chinese regime and distancing itself from Taiwan. Afterward, she claimed on official Chinese media that El Salvador and the Dominican Republic followed in Panama’s footsteps and broke off ties with Taiwan in 2018, deeming the “Panama model” as her achievement. After leaving the Panamanian government, Nicole briefly worked at the China Harbour Engineering Company Americas, a Chinese state-owned construction enterprise providing advisory services for its series of infrastructure projects across Latin America.
Ellis described Nicole as “talented,” but she “unwittingly fell into the web of Chinese influence.”
“It’s not that two years in China turned her into a Chinese operative, but this experience may have given her a positive view of China and formed some relationships. As she advances in her career, these relationships may deepen further,” he explained.
The Epoch Times reached out to Nicole Wong and the China Harbour Engineering Company Americas for comments on this matter.
So far, the Chinese regime has control or established approximately forty ports, over twenty Belt and Road partner organizations, and fifty-seven Confucius Institutes in Latin America.
Now, the political climate in Latin America is shifting unfavorably toward Beijing.
By the end of 2025, a rising alliance of right-wing leaders in Latin American countries held ideologies closer to the Trump administration than the Chinese regime.
In late November before the Honduran presidential election, the two main candidates both expressed discontent with the country’s decision to sever ties with Taiwan.
Honduras severed ties with Taiwan in 2023, causing the country to lose a lucrative market essential for its shrimp industry – a lifeline that the industry heavily relied on. Due to the inability of Chinese buyers to meet the demand, Honduras’ shrimp exports plummeted by two-thirds, leading to the closure of over sixty companies and the loss of 14,000 jobs.
“We were a hundred times better off when we were with Taiwan than we are now,” said Nasry Asfura, the country’s newly elected conservative leader, in December last year before winning.
According to Paraguayan President Santiago Peña Palacios, Taiwan’s staunch ally in Latin America, Honduras might not be the only regretful country.
“Many times, many leaders think that establishing relations with China will open up markets, open up the vast Chinese market. But the reality is just the opposite,” he told the Epoch Times in early 2025.
Shen Ming-shih, a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research at Tamkang University in Taiwan, stated that this means the political pendulum is swinging towards the U.S.
“China’s promises and expected aid often do not materialize. Once a country that sought help from China realizes this, they will turn to the U.S. or Taiwan for help,” he explained to the Epoch Times.
Ellis agrees with Shen’s viewpoint.
He said, “In Latin America, ‘everywhere,’ these Chinese projects end up with ‘catastrophic’ results.”
For him, the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric project in Ecuador is a “typical example of how a project can utterly fail.” The dam, built by China at a cost of $2.6 billion, encountered severe delays and long periods of cessation. Reports suggest the dam has developed over 17,000 cracks.
Ellis likened working with the Chinese regime to “playing with fire.”
“If you are very, very careful, you might heat the soup. But if you are not careful, you will burn down the house,” he said.
Ellis stated that Beijing did not step in to help Maduro, issuing another warning to Latin American countries cooperating with the Chinese regime.
He said, “The Chinese will make money off you, but don’t expect them to be by your side when you need them.”
With the political shift to the right, the U.S. is presented with a renewed opportunity. Washington has been taking decisive action.
U.S. President Donald Trump has invited Latin American leaders to a summit in Florida in March and will visit Beijing afterward.
In the past few months, at least six countries have signed trade or critical mineral agreements with the U.S.
In January of this year, Panama canceled its contract with CK Hutchison, which allowed the company to operate two strategic ports on the Panama Canal. Six Latin American countries, including the U.S., issued a statement supporting Panama’s decision.
At a recent investor conference held in São Paulo, Brazil, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that the U.S. government is working to “regain sovereignty in strategic areas” from the Chinese regime.
He said there were “unprecedented opportunities” for governments willing to strengthen their connections with each other in Latin America.
(Epoch Times reporter Yi Ru also contributed to this report.)
