I'm John Batchewitt, Professor Aben Ellis, who guides me on the elections in the Americas, there always is the question about the invisible hand of the forbidden city.

But in the case of Peru, it's not very hidden. There is a very large, sophisticated, brand new deep water port built entirely by the Chinese and possessed entirely by the People's Republic

of China. Yes, it has a commercial front, but it is controlled by the graces of forbidden city.

What does that mean in the election that we're watching right now, given that all of a sudden,

from out of nowhere, comes a guy in a

sombrero who might be an intellectual, but the power of the Chinese money. Where is it, Evan?

Where is China? Well, certainly, John, two different perspectives I would offer. One is that in Peru

as an illustrative case, China swims in seas of corruption and dissatisfaction.

China will deal with well-institutionalized governments like Chile and Uruguay and do pretty well for themselves.

But when there is weak, non-transparent governments that isolate themselves from the West, China tends to be able to extend its influences even more greatly, especially in domains like security and human networks.

And you see in Peru that being a Pacific-facing nation that has always looked to Asia, you historically have strong ties. Indeed, you have one of the

biggest Chinese diaspora in the region, which had actually come from China in the 19th century

to Peru and in other parts of that Pacific coast. But also, as you alluded to, John, because Peru

is mining rich from literally over the past 20 years, multiple Chinese

companies have become the number one investor in the mining sector, especially iron and copper,

but also they've penetrated other sectors. The signature thing that everyone worries about

is that the Chinese logistics giant Costco. It has complete operational

control almost without Peruvian government oversight of this new Deepwater Port Changhai, which could

be used in peacetime to essentially dominate maritime routes in the wars between the global

shipping giants, Mariskkin, MSC,

and others, but also in wartime, if that control is inadequate, could be used to support PLA

operations in the Eastern Pacific. But frankly, the depth of Chinese penetration of Peru goes far beyond

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