A new China-backed megaport in Peru may create whole new trade routes that will bypass North America entirely.

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.