By Entorno | 2025-07-10

A renewed push to build a transcontinental railroad linking the Brazilian port of Ilhéus with the Chinese-operated Peruvian port of Chancay has set off a political and diplomatic storm in Peru.

Even though the projected route would pass through more than 1,000km of Peruvian territory, nobody consulted Lima or invited it the initial Sino-Brazilian talks.

Those talks in Brasilia culminated in the July 7 signing of a Sino-Brazilian memorandum of understanding.

Peruvian Foreign Minister Elmer Schialer confirmed on July 7 the country's exclusion bluntly: "We don't have any more information than you do."

While Brazilian officials celebrated China State Railway Group's involvement in feasibility studies for the railroad, outrage erupted in Lima over Peru's sidelining. The exclusion is no minor oversight: the proposed route would cross some of the Amazon's most biodiverse expanses. They are home to Indigenous communities, including those of uncontacted peoples.

The idea of such a large-scale infrastructure project moving forward without even minimal notification of Peru raises concerns not just about the project's viability but about Peru's diplomatic standing.

Excluded from talks

Schialer attempted to play down the situation, calling it a matter between China and Brazil. He said Peru would assess its participation "once the project reaches the Peru-Brazil border." But critics were not convinced.

Peru's former foreign minister, Miguel Rodríguez Mackay, denounced Schialer's remarks as "mortifying" and "shameful," saying they echoed colonial-era dynamics where powerful countries dictated Peru's fate.

"How is it possible that Peru knows nothing about what China and Brazil are planning?" he asked during an interview with Exitosa radio on July 8. "In foreign policy, this is intolerable."

Rodríguez Mackay found it incomprehensible that a railroad expected to cross over 1,000km of Peruvian territory could progress without even a formal invitation to Peru to take part in the negotiations.

Environmental threat looms

Beyond the diplomatic snub, the environmental implications are immense. The railroad would slice through pristine rainforest in the Madre de Dios region of Peru and the Brazilian Amazon, including protected reserves and Indigenous territories.

Back in 2015, the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America warned that the railroad could have "devastating consequences" for uncontacted tribes and one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth.

Activists and environmental groups now fear the project could open the door to land grabs, increased drug trafficking and accelerated deforestation, all fueled by the push to export raw materials to China. The railroad would require access roads, stations and other infrastructure that would fragment ecosystems and compound the damage.

Cerrado, Brazil, another ecological hot spot already threatened by soy monoculture that feeds China, could face further destruction if the railroad corridor takes shape.

No say on home soil

The bioceanic railroad is not a new idea. Conceived in the 1950s, the project has resurfaced and stalled multiple times. In 2014, China offered an estimated $100 billion to revive it, but environmental concerns led Brazil to shelve the plan a year later.

Now, the idea has popped up again. A Chinese delegation of engineers toured key infrastructure sites in Brazil this April, including the East-West Integration Railway (FIOL) in Bahia state, the potential starting point of the Pacific-bound railroad ending in Chancay.

Peru was out of the loop back then too.

The irony is hard to ignore: while the final destination of the railroad lies on Peruvian soil, Lima has received no official communication about the agreement's terms, the proposed route or any technical or environmental assessments.

Rodríguez Mackay called this omission a diplomatic failure of the highest order. "When I heard the minister's statements, I thought: what on Earth is happening to Peru?"

For now, Brazil and China are pushing forward, while Peru watches from the sidelines. But pressure is mounting from the Peruvian general public, environmentalists and Indigenous tribes.

Diplomatic silence may prove costly, and once again, in the name of development, Peru's sovereignty and the survival of Amazonian communities hang in the balance.