An unnamed “U.S. official” told the news agency Reuters in a report published on Thursday that America’s participation in the Venezuelan oil industry would not prevent communist China from buying such oil, but that they would no longer benefit from “unfair, undercut” prices.
President Donald Trump announced this month that American oil industry experts would be cooperating with the rogue socialist regime in Venezuela to boost productivity and sales following the arrest of deposed dictator Nicolás Maduro. Trump approved a mission by U.S. Delta Force to infiltrate Caracas and arrest Maduro, and his wife Cilia Flores, on a host of narco-trafficking charges. The operation resulted in no significant losses on the American side, but the deaths of at least 32 Cuban state security agents in Caracas to protect Maduro.
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In the aftermath of the arrest, the socialist regime that Maduro controlled was taken over by his “vice president,” Delcy Rodríguez, who has publicly expressed her intent to cooperate with the United States. Trump has described Rodríguez, a hardline Marxist and the daughter of a communist terrorist, as “terrific” and claimed that she is in regular communication with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Trump has also shared social media posts online joking that he is the “acting” president of Venezuela, not her.
The end of the Maduro regime poses a significant geopolitical loss for China, which for decades has supported the chavista regime under Maduro and late predecessor Hugo Chávez. China’s largest financial challenge in Venezuela stems from an agreement signed in 2018 in which the Communist Party offered Maduro a $5 billion loan, believed to be payable in oil. Shipments of Venezuelan oil to China were believed to have skyrocketed following the first Trump administration’s decision to sanction Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the state oil company, limiting the market of countries willing to defy American sanctions to do business with Maduro.
Oil industry experts widely considered the arrest of Maduro a potential massive setback for China. Reports initially suggested China could replace Venezuelan oil with Iranian product, but that option became much less desirable after Washington hit Iran with a new round of sanctions this month in response to the slaughter of thousands of peaceful protesters calling for an end to the Islamist regime in the country.
The possibility of buying Venezuelan oil remains an option for China, according to the official speaking to Reuters, however, it can no longer expect what was believed to be essentially free oil in payment for the 2018 loan.
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“Thanks to President (Donald) Trump’s decisive and successful law enforcement operation, the people of Venezuela will collect a fair price for their oil from China and other nations rather than a corrupt, cheap price,” the official told Reuters. Trump has announced a plan that would limit sales to China as it requires Venezuela to sell most of its oil to the United States, in exchange for American oil industry experts helping refurbish the dilapidated PDVSA. The state oil company has been in a state of minimal production following the expulsion and exile of a large number of the nation’s most capable engineers and chemists. The socialists’ forced removal of the country’s oil experts has resulted in a catastrophic drop in production of crude and minimal ability to refine it, as well as fuel shortages in a nation that boasts some of the world’s largest known oil reserves.
Trump announced on Thursday that the United States would begin actively drilling for oil in Venezuela in the near future.
“We’re going to start drilling very soon. We have the biggest companies in the world. We have them, and they’re going to be going in, they’re all negotiating right now,” President Trump told reporters during his departure from the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. “And we’re representing the nation, and the nation is very thrilled by that because we’re really good at this. And they’ll be taking in more money than they ever have. But we’ll be taking in a lot of money, too.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry offered a brief response to the Reuters report stating that Washington would not impede China from buying oil, but would demand it did so at a fair price to Venezuela.
“Venezuela is a sovereign state and has the right to independently choose cooperation partners,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.
The Chinese government for years was one of Maduro’s closest allies. His last public engagement as dictator before his arrest, on January 2, was a meeting with Chinese officials in Caracas for bilateral conversations.
Delcy Rodríguez held a meeting with Chinese officials the week of Maduro’s arrest in an attempt to ensure that they remained a regime priority.
“I held an affectionate meeting with the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China in Venezuela, Lan Hu,” Rodríguez explained in a post on social media, “to whom we transmitted our sincere appreciation for his condemnation of the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores, as well as the aggressions against Venezuela.”
“We value the first and consequential position of China in energetically condemning the grave violation of international law and Venezuelan sovereignty,” she added.
Beijing has vocally condemned Maduro’s arrest but taken no concrete measures to support the remains of the socialist regime at press time. On the contrary, reports indicate that China is pressuring Rodríguez to pay the country’s debts. According to Bloomberg News, “outstanding obligations” from Venezuela to China could total as many as $20 billion, though the regime has attempted to keep the full numbers from the public.