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The presidents of Peru and China – Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Xi Jinping, respectively – oversaw the signing of the Collective Action Plan 2016-2021 for the strengthening of ties between the two countries. A total of 18 agreements were signed, including diplomatic and economic cooperation commitments as well as aid, donations and investments from China to Peru.
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The most controversial agreements have to do with extractive industries and environmental policy. Peru currently has more than 200 hundred active social conflicts related to mining and hydrocarbon industries and China is the largest mining investor in Peru. Las Bambas, for instance, is a copper mine exploited by Chinese state company MMG and the communities in the area have been protesting for years to protect their environment.
One of the signed agreements is for the installation of a mechanism for strategic dialogues about economic cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Peru and the National Development and Reform Commission of the People's Republic of China. Other agreements are about the improvement of the current bilateral Free Trade Agreement between Peru and China, the cooperation to establish industrial zones in Peru, and a quarantine for the inspection of Peruvian blueberry exports to China.
The agreements were made possible after a working meeting between Kuczynski and Xi during the latter's visit to Peru for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum. Xi also visited Chile and Ecuador in his tour of Latin America.
Xi also visited the Peruvian congress where he received the Gran Cruz Medal in recognition of the ties that unite Peru and China. There are 2.5 million Chinese-Peruvians living in the country and it has a significant cultural influence from the Asian country. After receiving the award, Xi stated that he takes “the medal not as a personal award but as an acknowledgment of the value Peru puts on the relationship with China.”
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