China has become a leading investor in Peru’s extractive sector over the past decade. In this article I discuss the impact of that investment on Peruvian foreign policy and build on interviews with senior executives of Chinese-owned corporations in Peru. As a sample case for Latin America, it recognizes the repercussions of China’s investments in national and regional development but argues that neither the firms nor Beijing imposes any significant political agenda on policymakers or legislators. I suggest, therefore, that government and local interest groups have a chance to harness China’s involvement for the benefit of social and environmental agendas, should they choose to do so.