China has made a $1.3 billion bet that a new port in Peru will boost access to South America’s agricultural bounty. Cashing in on the investment may be harder than expected.

The port opening in Chancay underscores China’s growing clout in a region that once looked primarily to the United States for economic opportunity.

LIMA (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday during talks with Peru's Dina Boluarte in Lima that China is willing to take the Chancay port, built and controlled by Chinese state-owned Cosco Shipping, as a starting point to forge a new maritime-land corridor between China and Latin America.