By Eduardo Baptista, Marco Aquino, Lucinda Elliott LIMA (Reuters) -Chinese President Xi Jinping launched a week-long diplomatic blitz of South America on Thursday by inaugurating a massive deep-water port in Peru,

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.

The new megaport is 992 hectares in size and creates a direct link between Shanghai and Peru and will cut shipment times down by 20 days on some routes.

South of the border, China is ascendant.Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrives this week in a region where China has replaced the U.S. as the dominant trading partner for most big economies, with the exceptions of Mexico and Colombia.

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 deflated Biden and Xi both arrive in Peru for the summit, the prospect of growing US isolationism will loom over discussions.