Key Points
- The real headline is Washington’s sharper campaign to challenge Chinese influence, with Peru emerging as a prime test case.
- Peru is unusually exposed to Beijing: about 33% of its trade is with China, and China takes roughly 70% of its copper.
- A fast-moving meetings scandal now offers a convenient “clean government” frame for U.S. pressure just before Peru’s April 12, 2026 election.
Washington is sharpening its focus on Chinese influence in the Americas, and Peru is starting to look like the next test case. The reason is not ideology.
It is leverage. Peru sits on copper that the world needs, and on trade routes that China wants. When Washington signals it will question Chinese projects and financing across the region, Peru becomes a natural pressure point because the numbers are so unbalanced.
China accounted for about 33% of Peru’s trade through November 2025, compared with about 14% for the United States. A free trade deal signed in 2009 helped China overtake the U.S. as Peru’s top partner in 2015.
Peru Is Emerging As Washington’s New Test Case Against Beijing’s Influence. (Photo Internet reproduction)
China also buys roughly 70% of Peru’s copper output. Chinese firms have expanded into power generation. And the Chinese-built Chancay megaport began operating in late November 2024, tightening direct shipping links to Asia.
Peru Scandal Fuels U.S.–China Pressure
That combination gives Beijing commercial weight, and gives Washington a clear target. Into that strategic backdrop dropped a small scandal with big geopolitical usefulness.
Acting president José Jerí acknowledged three off-agenda meetings with Chinese businessman Zhihua Yang between December 2025 and January 2026, including meetings on December 26, 2025 and January 6, 2026.
Jerí apologized for how the meetings were handled, but denies any improper deal. Prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation for alleged influence peddling.
Opposition lawmakers launched impeachment or censure moves. Polling reportedly shifted quickly, with Jerí’s approval falling from 51% to 41%, and an Ipsos poll saying 78% saw signs of corruption.
One detail has kept the story alive: on December 23, 2025, Yang’s company Hidroeléctrica América asked Peru’s Energy and Mines Ministry to delay a concession start to June 15, 2029.
The concession was granted in 2023 with a $24 million plan and a May 1, 2026 start date, and the delay could help avoid losing a guarantee letter worth about $244,000.
Separate reporting also described scrutiny involving another Chinese business owner, Ji Wu Xiaodong, tied to an illegal-logging case.
This is why it matters abroad: the scandal gives Washington a cleaner argument to press Peru on “transparency” while reshaping the region’s balance sheet with China, right before Peru votes on April 12, 2026.
