Peru is keen to deepen its strategic partnership with China when it hosts President Xi Jinping for the Apec summit in Lima this week, while the Peruvian Chinese community says they are highly regarded by the locals because of their law-abiding and hardworking nature.

China is already Peru’s largest trading partner, accounting for 53 percent of all exports from the South American nation last year.

Figures from the Trade Development Council in Hong Kong show that trade between the two nations exceeded US$20 billion in the first half of this year, nearly reaching the full-year total of 2019.

Ties between China and Peru can be traced back to the 19th century, when the first batch of Chinese workers arrived at the shores of the South American nation.

Vicente Loo moved from Hong Kong to Peru in 1979, when he was just 20.

He is now the president of Sociedad Central de Beneficencia China – which roughly translates as the Chinese Benevolent Society.

The group was founded in 1886 by a Qing dynasty official, and is steeped in history.

Loo said the earliest Chinese immigrants worked as hard labour, after slavery was outlawed.

But they gradually raised their social status, and now the Chinese are highly regarded in Peru.

“We have our ancestors to thank for this. They have always been model citizens. In the eyes of Peruvians, Chinese people are hardworking, honest and clever,” he told RTHK in an interview.

“That’s how locals see us, and that’s why Chinese Peruvians are able to achieve in different sectors such as business, and politics.”

Today it is estimated that about 10 percent of the Peruvian population has Chinese origins.

The society, which has lent a helping hand to countless immigrants over the years, is moving with the times by switching its focus to promoting – and preserving – Chinese culture.

“We have a lion dance troupe with more than 200 teenagers. Half of them are Peruvians and the other half are Chinese. Their performances are very well received by the locals – you’ll see us in festivals, events and opening ceremonies. Apart from promoting Chinese culture, the troupe also galvanises the Chinese community here and foster exchanges with Peruvians,” Loo explained.

The society has been recognised by the Chinese embassy in Peru for its work.

It has been invited to take part in Beijing’s foreign aid programme, dishing out emergency funds to Chinese citizens who encounter unexpected situations or accidents.

In a tour of the society’s headquarters in Chinatown, Loo showed RTHK group photos featuring Xi, when he last visited Peru in 2016.

Next to it was another photo with former president Hu Jintao, taken in 2008.

Loo can look forward to a third group photo, when he and other Chinese Peruvian representatives greet the president again, later this week.