Across the Andes and Pacific, China is laying ports, railways, and shipping routes that bind Latin America to its orbit. Pentagon planners, quoted by The National Interest, view Chancay as more than an export machine. As The National Interest noted, this normalizes an East Asia–South America loop, knitting Colombian, Ecuadorian, and Peruvian terminals into a Chinese-linked spine. Beijing’s approach, analysts told The National Interest, is patient and modular. In practice, as The National Interest reported, the DFC has been underpowered, with its portfolio resembling a traditional development agency rather than a strategic financier.