China rebuts top US diplomat Marco Rubio over ‘Communist Party-backed projects’ in Peru

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held talks in Peru on Thursday on countering Beijing’s growing footprint around the strategic Chancay megaport, drawing a sharp response from China’s embassy in Lima, which defended its investments and took aim at Washington’s strict visa rules.

Rubio met President Keiko Fujimori at the Government Palace, where she confirmed Peru would join the Shield of the Americas, a US-led coalition against organised crime. The Peruvian capital was the last stop of a three-day tour that also took him to Colombia and Ecuador.

Fujimori, a conservative who took office in July, has courted Washington on security while protecting its trade with China, which buys 35 to 38 per cent of Peruvian exports.

“Projects backed by the Chinese Communist Party bypass Peru’s legal frameworks and pose risks to transparency and data security,” Rubio wrote in the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio ahead of the visit.

In its statement on Tuesday, the embassy said China had “never interfered in the internal affairs of other countries” and “never demanded that other countries take sides”.