"Macau as a Bridge between China
and Peru: From the past to the
present and the future“
Conference on "Macau's Bridging Role between China and Peru" in the 19th
Macao International Trade and Investment Fair Latin American Business Forum
October 24, 2014
Macau
Carlos Aquino Rodriguez
Professor, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Peru
Email: carloskobe2005@yahoo.com
Index
• I. Introduction
• II. Chinese immigration to Peru and role of
Macau
• III. China and Peru present relations
• IV. Macau as a Bridge between China and Peru
• V. Conclusions
Introduction
• Peru, and American, continent aboriginal people came from North
Asia, who entered North America across the Bering Strait
• Macau relation with Peru is very old. Around the middle of the XVI
century when the Galleon trade began between Acapulco and
Manila, goods from China (silk and porcelain among others) were
brought from Macau to Manila in exchange of Latin American
colonies silver (included from Peru) and then those goods were
taken to Acapulco and from here to Peru. This was the called
Marine (eastward) Silk Road or the “Guangzhou – Latin American
Sea Route”
• Chinese and other Asian came to Peru due to this trade and there is
a register that by 1613 some Chinese were living in Lima as also
some Japanese, Pilipino and Malays.
• Thanks to that trade Mexican silver and currencies was widely used
in China and so much went to it that by the end of the XVIII century
this country suffered a period of high inflation
Macau and its position in Portuguese and Spanish global trade
routes
http://www.aaapoe.net/1china1-002aag.html
II. Chinese immigration to Peru and role of
Macao
• Macau was also the place from where many of the nearly
one hundred thousand Chinese immigrants departed to
Peru from the middle of the XIX century to the beginning of
the 1870s. At that time China was opened to the world and
people began leaving the country and Peru was in need of
labor force to work in the cotton and sugar plantations,
built railroads and extracting guano.
• There was scarcity of labor because the laborers working in
the plantations, mainly black people brought before as
slaves by the Spaniards from the XVI century, were given
freedom in 1845 (abolition of slavery) and most of them
left the fields for the cities
• Most of the Chinese came from the southern part of China,
in present day Guangdong province
• Peru was one of the first countries in Latin America to
begin receiving Chinese immigrants in a large scale.
• The immigrants coming from China to Peru suffered
many hardships in the way to Peru, traveling in dire
conditions in the ships (on average the trip lasted
around four monts), but also suffered in Peru due to
the hard and bad working conditions.
• For example the Dea del Marwhich had set sail to
Callao from Macau in 1865 with 550 Chinese on board,
arrived in Tahiti with only 162 of them still alive.
• In this way Chinese immigrants to Peru came to
form one of the largest communities of Chinese
in Latin America, but in 1872 this immigration
came to a halt.
• In July 1872 the Peruvian ship “Maria Luz”, during
a stop in the port of Yokohama, Japan, suffered
the desertion of one Chinese on board. He
escaped throwing himself into the sea, where he
was rescued by the crew of a British warship in
the port. He complained of mistreatment in the
Peruvian ship.
• After the British captain of the warship complained to
Japanese authorities, they ordered the Peruvian ship to
return the laborers to China. After that the Qing Imperial
Government forbade Chinese immigration to Peru
• Because of this incident China and Peru began negotiations
to have official contacts, and in 1874 diplomatic links were
established, becoming Peru the first country of Latin
America to do this.
• It is said that perhaps 5% of Peru population is of Chinese
origin but many of them have no Chinese surnames and no
Chinese physical characteristics. What happened is that
with time there have been a lot of intermarriage of Chinese
with Peruvians and so the surname and the Chinese
physical characteristics have been lost.
• It is interesting to notice that the Chinese laborers who
came to Peru during the XIX century were all men, and no
Chinese women came during most of that period. As a
result Chinese immigrants had to get married to local
women.
• Also it should be noted that because of the harsh
conditions in the fields, some of them flee and they went to
places far away to avoid being prosecuted. Some of them
changed their surnames to avoid been caught by
authorities. Also some of them adopted the surnames of
their patrons after finishing the work contracts.
• Additionally, as some of them settled in small towns, when
they registered to the local authorities, and especially when
they had their children, at the moment of registering their
surnames, the local authorities often misspelled their
names and surnames in the documents, certificates of
birth, and of marriage, so their names and surnames
III. China and Peru present relations
• On November 2nd, 1971 Peru and the People Republic of
China established diplomatic relations.
• One of the engines of Peru economic growth has been
external trade, and specially demand from China.
• In 1993 the amount of Peruvian exports to China was only
of 140 million dollars, but in 2003 they reached 676 million
dollars. In the same period imports from China increased
from 90 million dollars to 646 million dollars.
• But from the last decade exports to China leaped to reach
7.8 billion dollars in 2012, though it decreased to 7.3
billions dollars last year 2013. See table 1. Imports from
China were 8.3 billion dollars in 2013
TABLE 1: MAJOR TRADE PARTNERS OF PERU, 2010-2013, IN MILLION OF DOLLARS
Source: Aduanas del Peru:
http://www.aduanet.gob.pe/aduanas/informae/BalContiZonaPais_01122013.htm
COUNTRY
1.
U.S.A
1. China
1.
Japan
1.
Canada
1.
Switzerland
2010
2010
2011
2011
2012
2012
2013
2013
Exports
Imports
Exports
Imports
Exports
Imports
Exports
Imports
6,087
5,811
5,903
7,350
6,175
7,916
7,306
8,783
5,436
5,140
6,963
6,325
7,848
7,802
7,331
8,379
1,790
1,336
2,174
1,314
2,575
1,499
2,226
1,433
3,329
539
4,232
583
3,445
588
2,692
615
3,845
118
5,937
150
5,074
154
2,967
158
TABLE 2: PERU'S EXPORTS TO ASIAN MEMBERS OF APEC (IN MILLION OF DOLLARS)
*Year1994
Source: Aduanas del Perú: http://www.aduanet.gob.pe/aduanas/informae/2012/generales/ExpoImpoPorContiZonaPais.html
http://www.aduanet.gob.pe/aduanas/informae/BalContiZonaPais_01122013.htm
Country/Economy
World Total
2010
2003
8,939.82 35,073.25
1993
3,344.40
1997
6,741.75
Australia
14.99
16.31
53.12
South Korea
59.36
91.50
176.34
China
140.84
2011
46,386.03
2012
45,846.18
2013
41,511.7
117.5
115.35
99.50
130.37
894.9
1,696.09
1,545.35
1,536.38
490.06 676.96 5,425.9 6,972.64 7,848.97 7,331.44
Philippines
31.99*
47.96
11.06
123.41
109.75
55.23
128.11
Hong-Kong
Indonesia
28.60
32.62*
68.82
36.33
30.31
22.67
78.5
36.61
93.24
61.49
96.54
101.18
84.22
105.31
Japan
Malaysia
299.04
57.33*
473.57
59.77
391.16
5.51
1,790.4
8.43
2,174.76
6.75
2,575.33
27.68
2,226.72
56.29
New Zealand
1.50
-
3.72
13.5
18.63.
25.82
22.55
Russia
9.90
9.48
14.18
57.9
78.80
88.43
149.76
Singapore
1.68*
11.96*
16.15
6.66
7.94
21.46
20.18
Thailand
11.71*
36.23
26.71
98.10
264.76
234.06
138.25
Taiwan (Chinese
Taipei)
Vietnam
118.78
159.11
147.28
293.0
365.28
261.10
211.29
1.62*
2.56
10.64
63.89
77.72
90.43
44.80
• The then Ministry of Economy of Peru, said on
October 2011 that he “prays every day” for China
economy to continue growing at high rates
because that way Peru will benefit from that. If
China economy reduces its pace of growth there
will be less demand for Peru raw materials,
prices, of specially minerals, will decrease,
exports revenue will decrease and the country
will be affected. In fact this happened from 2012.
• Peru will mainly sells raw materials to China, but
mostly buy manufactured goods.
TABLE 3: TOP 11 PRODUCTS EXPORTED TO CHINA, 2013
Ores and Fishmeal (8 products): 92% of total
Source: ADUANAS DEL PERU
http://www.aduanet.gob.pe/aduanas/informae/XPaisPartMensual_01122013.htm
PRODUCT
Total
Copper ores and concentrates
Copper cathodes
Fishmeal
Iron ore
Zinc ore
Lead ore
Silver ore
Zinc, not alloyed
Cuttle fish and squid
Other gasoline without lead
tetraethyl
Fresh grapes
Millions of Dollars
FOB value
7,331
3,338
1,020
856
855
203
195
182
100
91
58
45
TABLE 4: IMPORTS OF PERU FROM MAJOR ASIAN MEMBERS OF APEC
(IN MILLION OF DOLLARS, CIF)
Source: Aduanas del Peru
Country/Economy
1993
1997
2003
2010
2011
2012
2013
4,024.55
7,716.79
8,428.51
27,910.70
37,891.00
42,150.68
43,273.7
Australia
17.35
33.09
28.12
75.07
111.1
133.0
132
South Korea
99.42
230.25
277.72
1,044.25
1,497.2
1,647.6
1,588
90.43
195.92
646.54
5,115.3
6,364.7
7,802.9
8,379
11.06
12.04
22.9
27.4
29.8
15.19
22.80
15.8
20.5
18.8
40.00
120.96
221.1
245.1
206
367.40
1,336.96
1,314.4
1,499.9
1,433
57.77
160.44
207.0
206.9
199
World Total
China
Philippines
Hong Kong
12.29
17.04
Indonesia
Japan
303.62
417.99
Malaysia
New Zealand
45.95
-
16.20
56.47
68.1
119.0
80.9
Russia
15.28
21.92
56.36
183.42
513.0
334.2
339
Singapore
22.23
38.45
50.83
60.00
57.4
Thailand
32.10
372.28
443.7
452.1
651
133.58
327.80
442.1
461.7
442
4.69
52.50
102.4
113.1
131
Taiwan
Vietnam
60.16
112.05
• Actually China is the biggest market for Peruvian exports.
China buys most of the copper, iron ore, zinc, fishmeal, that
Peru sells abroad. And China is the second source of
imports, after the U.S.
• In the other hand, most of the textiles and garments
imported by Peru came from China as also are toys,
footwear, electrical appliances and most of the consumer
goods, and increasingly cars.
• Cheap manufactured goods from China have helped
improve the living standards of many Peruvians, especially
of poor people.
• But also cheap Chinese goods have represented a strong
competition to some manufacture sectors in Peru
• Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Peru has increased a lot
in the last years
• China investment in Peru was nil up to 1992. That year,
Shougang Corporation (首钢集团) bought the state
company Hierro Peru that exploits iron. It was the first big
sale of a Peruvian state company after the government
began in 1990 a process of economic reforms and opening
of the economy to foreign investment.
• China interest in securing sources of raw material was the
reason behind its decision to buy the Peruvian company. It
was the first biggest investments by a Chinese state
company of a foreign asset outside Asia. Shougang paid
around 120 million dollars for that. The mine that Shougang
bought is the only one that produces iron ore in Peru
• China investment is mainly in mining, but lately there is
also in oil and fishmeal sectors.
• In the last years Chinese companies have announced
and are carrying out big investment. For example
Chinalco Aluminiun Corp. invested 3.5 billion dollars in
a copper mine called Toromocho, in the central part of
Peru. Another big investment is the project Pampa de
Pongo, of the Nanjinzhao Group Co. Ltd. for 3.28 billion
dollars that will produce iron.
• According to statistics by the Ministry of Energy and
Mines of Peru, by June 2014 there is an amount of
61.28 billion dollars of investment being currently
carried on the mining sector, of which investment from
China accounts for 22.58% of the total, or 13.83 billion
dollars, the biggest one.
GRAPH 1: ESTIMATED PORTFOLIO OF MINING PROJECTS BY MAIN INVESTOR, JUNE 2014
Source: Ministerio de Energía y Minas: “Cartera estimada de proyectos mineros, Junio 2013”, page 3
• In addition to that on April this year the company resulting
from the merger of Glencore and Xstrata agreed to sell the
copper project Las Bambas located in Apurimac, and sold it
for $5.85 billion to a Chinese consortium led by MMG Ltd.,
which is owned by China Minmetals, and included Guoxin
International Investment Corp. and Citic Metal Co. When the
mine come into production it could increase by more than a
third the amount of copper produced in Peru. This
investment is the largest done on Peru.
• On November 13, 2013 it was announced that China National
Petroleum Company through its listed company PetroChina
bought Petrobras Peru unit for $2.6 billion. The Chinese firm
bought all the shares of Petrobras Energia Peru S.A., which
has three oil and gas fields in Peru.
• Peru and China has a Free Trade Area agreement since the
year 2010
IV. Macau as a Bridge between China and
Peru
• In this context of increasing economic relationship
between China and Peru, Macau, as a vibrant and
modern city, with old links to Peru and Latin America,
could play again a role to increase more that
relationship.
• What could be done for that to be achieved? First, you
need to have direct air links between Peru and China
and Macau in particular. Second, there is little
exchange in the intellectual, cultural and tourism areas.
There is a need for each part to know more of the
other. Universities have a role to play in that. Third, a
strengthening of the political and business links is also
necessary, with more visit exchange of politicians and
business delegations to both sides.
• There is a direct flight between Mexico city and Shanghai. Others
direct flights should be established (promote Macau as a gateway to
South China, establish charter flights from Latin America to China
and beyond and vice versa)
• There could be a exchange of experiences in the tourism area
(Macau as gambling center and shopping mall, Peru as not only the
place of Machu Picchu and Nazca Line but also a place to enjoy nice
Peruvian food (it seems soon a Peruvian restaurant will open in
Macau). A visa exemption system could be established to promote
tourism.
• Universities could organize joint conferences, conduct together
research (establish also a Latin American Study Center in Macau),
and engage in exchange of professors and students (direct some
scholarships given by Chinese government to Peru students to study
at Macau Universities)
• As Macau wants also to be a link between Portuguese speaking
African countries and China it could organize tripartite Conferences
for example on links between African countries, Peru and Brazil,
and Macau.
• Macau trade itself with Peru is quite small. Trade in merchandise
will remain small because of Macao’s small population but trade in
services and investment could increase.
• Peru has a stable political and economic environment and the
country offer plenty of investment opportunities (for example
infrastructure, hotels, resorts, etc.). Macau could find a destination
for its investment in a country that welcomes Chinese people.
• Macau was part of the Galleon trade in the 16 century, now could
be part, again, of the Marine Silk Road
Conclusions
• Now in the twenty first century, with China destined to
become the largest economy in the world in a few years
time and with its vast necessities of raw materials, and with
Peru that grows at the fastest rate in Latin America,
endowed with plenty of natural resources and in need of
capital to develop its infrastructure and industry, the two
countries are destined to become increasingly linked.
• China is now Peru’s largest trade partner. Growing Chinese
investment in Peru, beginning with mining and extending to
others fields, and Peru looking to export not only raw
materials but also with the aim in the growing consumer
market of China with non traditional exports as agroindustry, fishery products, and others, both things
constitute the elements that will make relations between
the two countries be more stronger
• Peru can offer also besides its natural resources a
destination for tourism. As home to the ancient Andean
civilization and the Empire of Incas the country has many
places to visit. Also the Peruvian gastronomy is gaining
worldwide attention. The Chinese food in Peru, with its
blend of local ingredients and flavors, is also an attraction
(Chinese restaurants are called chifa, from he word 饎
飯 pronounced cifan, in the Cantonese way). The Peruvian
food itself has received a lot of influence from Chinese
immigrants.
• But perhaps the most important thing is the warm
reception that people from China could receive from
Peruvians. As a country of immigrants Peru welcomes
foreigners, specially to the Chinese.
• Macau as an open and international city could play a bigger
role in the growing relationship between Peru and China