Alejandro Toledo's bid to make Peru a prime destination for Chinese investment in Latin America has at times been far from polished. At astate lunch in Lima with Zeng Qinghong, China's vice-president, in January, Peru's president made an awkward joke about the preponderance of the city's chifas - Chinese-Peruvian fusion restaurants - that was received politely by his Asian guests.

In his more culturally sensitive moments, Mr Toledo notes that Peru and China have had diplomatic ties for more than 150 years and that the Andean country has the largest Chinese immigrant population in South America.