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Laura Zhou

The Chilean government has turned down a request from a Chinese military hospital ship to treat Chilean residents on board the vessel.
The decision reflects Santiago’s tilt towards Washington and US efforts to exert more influence in the western hemisphere, according to a Chinese academic.
The Chilean Ministry of Health said on Friday that it had reviewed the Silk Road Ark’s request and decided not to grant it, citing a health code that restricts such services to professionals accredited ‌in the country, Reuters reported.
“We ⁠determined that ⁠it is not appropriate to authorise this health operation to function on the ship’s facilities,” ‌the ministry said.
The Silk Road Ark is a Chinese naval ship equipped with 14 clinical departments, seven diagnostic units and a rescue helicopter.
It is a symbol of China’s soft power and has been on a 220-day voyage to about a dozen countries in the western hemisphere since late December, arriving in waters off the Chilean port city of ⁠Valparaiso on Wednesday.
In late January, just weeks after the US abduction of former Venezuela leader Nicolas Maduro, the ship made a four-day technical stop at the Uruguayan port of Montevideo, becoming the first Chinese naval vessel to visit the country.
The Chinese embassy in Santiago did not respond to requests for comment.


The ministry’s decision comes just two weeks before Chile’s new government takes power led by Jose Antonio Kast, a right-wing former lawmaker who campaigned on Trump-style hardline positions on crime and immigration.
Jiang Shixue, a professor at Shanghai University’s Centre for Latin American Studies, said Washington was ramping up pressure on Santiago ahead of the power transition.
“Chile has maintained a good relationship with China for a long time, but under the pressure from the US, Chile has apparently picked a side,” Jiang said.
Some of the US pressure is apparent in a US$500 million undersea Pacific cable project proposed by state-owned China Mobile between Valparaiso – Chile’s main port – and Hong Kong.
Just days before the Chilean ministry’s decision on the Silk Road Ark, the US imposed visa restrictions on three Chilean government officials linked to the cable project, saying their activities “compromised critical telecommunications infrastructure and undermined regional security in our hemisphere”.
If the undersea project does go ahead, it will be the first such cable connecting Asia and South America, posing a challenge to America’s monopoly in the critical infrastructure.
“Presently, all e-communications from South America to Asia must go through the United States, making them both slower and more expensive,” Jorge Heine, the former minister of national assets of Chile, wrote in an analysis published by The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a Washington-based think tank.
“And Washington is intent on keeping it so, determined to hold on to its monopoly of such communications out of South America, on the flimsy pretext of the dangers to regional security derived from Chinese cables.”
An earlier project to link Valparaiso to Shanghai by fibre optic cable was cancelled by the Chilean government in 2019 under pressure from the US.
China has been Chile’s biggest trading partner since 2009, while Chile is China’s third-largest trading partner in Latin America.
Chinese investment in Chile has been substantial, particularly in the mining, energy, and infrastructure sectors, and in 2018, Chile became a partner in the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s grand investment and infrastructure plan to increase global trade.
The country is the world’s biggest copper producer and the second-biggest lithium producer, placing the mineral-rich nation at the heart of Trump’s pursuit of critical-mineral dominance in the rivalry with China.


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The Silk Road Ark is on a 220-day trip to Latin America. Photo: CCTV

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The Port of Chancay, a US$1.3 billion deep-water hub north of Lima, is majority owned by Cosco Shipping Ports. Photo: Handout

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Scott Bessent has outlined Washington’s approach to managing economic risks with China while expanding engagement in Latin America. Photo: Getty Images

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Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla (left) and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi reaffirm their countries’ ties in Beijing on Thursday. Photo: Xinhua

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 Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen

Francisco Urdinez is the author of the book Economic Displacement: China and the End of US Primacy in Latin America. Photo: Handout

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China

Diplomacy

The vessel has sailed into Valparaiso’s waters as the geopolitical winds shift in the western hemisphere


The vessel has sailed into Valparaiso’s waters as the geopolitical winds shift in the western hemisphere.


Why won’t Chile let China’s Silk Road Ark military hospital ship give medical aid?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The vessel has sailed into Valparaiso’s waters as the geopolitical winds shift in the western hemisphere

The vessel has sailed into Valparaiso’s waters as the geopolitical winds shift in the western hemisphere