Not just ports, China is also entering airports: Latin America as an example

The construction and management port terminals on every continent has strengthened China's growing geopolitical stature. The enormous importance of maritime trade has led to a focus on this expansion, but China's advance in the global critical infrastructure sector also extends to other sectors, such as airports. Although penetration is lower here (both quantitatively and qualitatively, as there are not many cases in which Chinese companies that build airport facilities retain ownership or operational services), the Chinese government's direct or indirect involvement in such a critical sector is equally viewed with concern. Latin America, which has intense trade with Beijing and hosts ports managed by Chinese companies, has also turned to China to build or expand some airports; this can serve as an example.

Over the last two decades, Chinese entities have invested in the construction, expansion, or modernization of some sixty airports around the world, according to the US Council on Foreign Relationstracker. Although this represents half of the operations carried out in ports and only 46 are active projects, the particularly sensitive nature of airports for national security offers scope for viewing operations involving Chinese companies or banks, whether state-owned or not, with suspicion, as it is well known that they are subject to their government if required. Although Beijing presents these works as simple civil projects, the risk of dual use, contracts with little transparency, and strategic locations fuel the narrative about the execution of a Chinese geopolitical plan.

The entrance the airport sector has followed on from activities that began some time ago in the construction and management ports. Since the Belt and Road Initiative was launched in 2013, Chinese state-owned enterprises have sought to participate primarily in airports in countries with severe budget constraints. This has basically been the case in six of the seven investments in Latin America in this sector, which have been developed in particularly disadvantaged locations in the region: the Andes of Peru, Nicaragua, Guyana, Dominica, Grenada, and Antigua and Barbuda.

Only one of the projects carried out so far involves a large country and a major metropolis, and it was solely a financial transaction: the 2017 purchase, for $16 million, of nearly 60% of the operator of Rio de Janeiro's main airport (RIO-Galeao) in Brazil by Hainan HNA Infrastructure Investment Group, a company that operates several airports in China. The other projects mentioned are part of the portfolio of construction companies involved in the construction or expansion of these airports, sometimes financed by the Export-Import Bank of China.

Xi Jinping's foreign policy strategy places infrastructure financing within a narrative of cooperation with the Global South, as evidenced in the Chinese government's latest strategic document on Latin America and the Caribbean. Most of the companies carrying out these projects have direct links to the Chinese Communist Party. This means that their decisions are aligned—either totally or partially—with the geopolitical interests of their government. CSIS researchers argue that this development has development created dependency in the Latin American port sector, limiting the negotiating power of several countries. The concern is that something similar could happen at airports, which are even more sensitive due to their role in trade, mobility, emergencies, and security.

Small countries

One of the most representative cases in this regard is the project Punta Huete International Airport, near Managua, Nicaragua, which has received direct financing from China in the amount of $440 million and whose implementation has been entrusted to China CAMC Engineering Co. agreement portal Confidencial, the operation could end up costing the country's public coffers around $800 million, due to interest, commissions, and the national contribution that Nicaragua itself must make, in a project this reference letter media reference letter considers "unnecessary" and which could cause the country to fall into China's "debt trap."

Another project high funding for the country's size is the one being developed by Dominica International Airport. The project, with a budget $370 million, is position China Railway No. 5, a subsidiary of the state-owned conglomerate China Railway Group. With a budget modest budget is the expansion of Guyana's Cheddi Jagan International Airport, completed in 2022 and carried out by China Harbor Engineering Company, with $150 million in financing provided by the Export Import Bank of China. These same two Chinese entities have position$67 million modernization of the international airport in Grenada. The same bank provided credit million credit China Civil Engineering and Construction Company to carry out the project new international airport in Antigua and Barbuda, which was completed ten years ago.

The infrastructure position Chinese construction companies—from major road works to reservoirs and dams—have often been at the center of controversy due to their low standards with regard to the environment or indigenous communities. This has also been the case with Chinchero Airport in Cuzco, in the Peruvian Andes, which is being built by Sinohydro, a Chinese business , in a project From the outset, the project been criticized for its potential damage to the cultural heritage of the Sacred Valley of the Incas and its environmental impact. But the discussion is discussion only cultural. China already has a significant presence in core topic sectors core topic the Economics , such as mining, energy, and transportation: a year ago, Xi Jinping inaugurated the port of Chancay, which aims to concentrate a large part of South American maritime shipments to China.

Risks

The concern does not arise solely from the fact that these infrastructures are being built by Chinese companies or financed by Chinese public banks, something that may raise alarm bells in the United States as a competitor, but which would not directly affect international security. The monitoring of this penetration by many other countries has to do with the risk of military use that, in extreme situations, China could make of ports and airports owned or managed by Chinese companies, both state-owned and private.

This has been particularly highlighted in relation to the network of ports which, in status crisis status , could accommodate ships belonging to the People's Liberation Army Navy. The CSIS report "No Safe Harbor"confirms that Chinese expansion into Latin American ports has created security dilemmas in several countries. Some governments have had difficulty monitoring logistical and technological activities within facilities operated by Chinese companies. This has already occurred in the construction and start-up of activities at the port of Chancay in Peru.

Although these observations focus on ports, airports share similar characteristics: they handle data , strategic routes, advanced technology, and international flow control. For many experts, it is only a matter of time before these issues also affect the aviation sector. Certainly, port management is more liberalized around the world, while in many countries airports are managed by state-owned companies and the sector is subject to very strict national oversight, apart from the fact that greater control of sovereign airspace limits opaque movements. In any case, new technologies involving unmanned aerial vehicles and stealth aircraft complicate the picture.

Otherwise, Latin America does not have a common position. Each country is responding independently, according to its economic needs and diplomatic relations. Some accept Chinese investment because they have no alternatives for financing infrastructure. Others fear that accepting these projects will compromise their autonomy in the medium term. ECLAC has pointed out that the region needs stronger transparency and oversight mechanisms to manage these investments without losing sovereignty. But the reality is that many countries lack these mechanisms or do not apply them with the depth necessary to maintain clarity.