Peru’s President Pedro Castillo prioritises China ties in first days in office
- China is Peru’s most important commercial partner
- Pedro Castillo was inaugurated as president on July 28
In his first week in office, Peru’s new left-wing administration under President Pedro Castillo has been quick to extend a friendly hand to China, the Andean nation’s most important commercial partner and the main buyer of its copper, a crucial source of tax revenue.
Castillo is poised to tilt Peru to the left after successive centre and right-wing administrations, although preserving a good relation with China has been a priority of all recent Peruvian leaders, analysts said.
“This doesn’t have an ideological character, this has a pragmatic character,” said Jorge Heine, a professor of international relations at Boston University and a former Chilean ambassador to China.
In addition to China, Peru also has a free-trade agreement with the US and has been considered for decades a US ally.
Mining tax policy will be crucial to China, whose companies are important copper miners in Peru, the world’s No. 2 producer of the metal.