Peru is facing mounting pressure from Washington to distance itself from China, even as Beijing remains the Andean nation's top trade partner and a decades-long source of investment. The tension recently flared when the US ambassador warned Peru risked "losing its sovereignty" to China — a comment directed largely at the Chinese-owned deep-water port of Chancay, 60 miles north of Lima, which Washington fears could one day serve as a dual-use naval facility. Peruvian officials and analysts have pushed back, noting that Peru was the first South American country to establish diplomatic relations with China in 1873 and that the country has long cultivated ties in both directions. The dispute is playing out against a turbulent political backdrop, with a June 7 presidential runoff expected to pit conservative Keiko Fujimori against radical left-wing candidate Roberto Sánchez Palomino — a polarising contest that analysts warn could jeopardise the country's macroeconomic stability. Washington has also designated Peru a "Major Non-NATO Ally" and floated plans for a naval base in the Pacific port city of Callao, moves seen as part of the Trump administration's broader "Donroe Doctrine" aimed at reasserting US dominance across the Western Hemisphere. Many Peruvians say they welcome renewed US engagement but reject any ultimatum to choose sides, arguing that the era of great-power dictates to Latin America has passed.