The Chinese Foreign Ministry complained on Tuesday that the American mission to arrest deposed Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro was “bullying,” but offered no substantive response when asked what it was doing to aid the remains of the socialist regime.
While Beijing insisted it supported the illegitimate socialist regime “in safeguarding its sovereignty,” it did not specify what, exactly, China would be doing to ensure the survival of chavismo, the brutally violent variant of socialism imposed on the country by late dictator Hugo Chávez and preserved for over a decade by Maduro.
The non-answer followed reports that China has significantly reduced its purchases of Venezuelan oil from caretaker dictator Delcy Rodríguez, formerly Maduro’s vice president and oil minister. Prior to Maduro’s arrest on narco-terrorism charges, China had arranged an agreement with Caracas that allowed it access to Venezuela’s vast oil wealth at steeply discounted prices — or sometimes for free in payment for a massive loan Maduro took out in 2018.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun accepted a question during his regular press briefing on Tuesday from the Chávez-founded leftist propaganda outlet Telesur, which demanded to know exactly “what measures” China was taking to support socialism in Venezuela.
“The U.S.’s bullying act of using force against a sovereign state and forcibly seizing its president seriously violates international law and infringes upon Venezuela’s sovereignty,” Guo responded.
In reference to the question, Guo offered the vague assurance that “China supports Venezuela in safeguarding its sovereignty, dignity, and lawful rights.”
He added that China was “ready” to help in the future, particularly through the United Nations.
Telesur covered the evasive response by making the headline Guo’s condemnation of Maduro’s arrest, the latest of several similar statements from the Chinese government since the U.S. military operation to arrest Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores on January 3. The transcript from the briefing, published by the Chinese government, does not indicate that Telesur pressured the Foreign Ministry for a more substantive answer.
In public, the Chinese Communist Party has been among the most vocal entities condemning President Donald Trump for approving the operation to arrest Maduro. It has insisted it would continue to cooperate with the remnants of the regime and sent envoys to meet with Delcy Rodríguez, the acting president who previously served as foreign minister.
China has massive debts related to Venezuela that are driving its interest in the future of that regime. While the total sum that China has sunk into the chavista regime remains officially private, various news organizations have estimated that Venezuela owes China somewhere between $10 to $60 billion. The largest chunk of that debt is believed to be the $5 billion that China lent Maduro after a personal visit to Beijing in 2018, which reports suggest Venezuela was paying with its oil rather than traditional currency. This debt is also believed to be related to the extensive reporting indicating that China has been helping Venezuela avoid U.S. sanctions on its state oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), for years. The Trump administration sanctioned the Venezuelan oil industry in response to Maduro’s widespread killing, imprisoning, and torturing of perceived political dissidents, including children.
China’s ties to Caracas run so deep that Nicolás Maduro’s final public engagement as dictator of Venezuela was an audience with a delegation of Chinese Communist Party diplomats.
China sent its ambassador to Caracas, Lan Hu, to meet with Delcy Rodríguez shortly after the arrest. In that meeting, Rodriguez offered assurances that she would prioritize her relationship with China, according to a statement she published on social media.
“I held an affectionate meeting with the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China in Venezuela, Lan Hu, 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,” Rodríguez wrote. “We value the first and consequential position of China in energetically condemning the grave violation of international law and Venezuelan sovereignty.”
The finance news outlet Bloomberg reported last week that Chinese officials are reportedly pressuring the socialist regime to pay back these debts — and demanding from Washington assurances that those commitments will be respected.
China will take all necessary measures to protect its legitimate rights and interests in Venezuela,” a spokesman for the Chinese embassy to the United States wrote last week in an email to media.
The Trump administration has stated repeatedly that it would not prevent Venezuela from selling its oil to China, but that it would prevent China from siphoning free oil out of the country. An unnamed American official reiterated that stance to the Reuters news agency last week.
“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 was quoted as saying.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that the Chinese state-owned oil company PetroChina was withdrawing from Venezuelan oil sales, apparently finding the prospect of paying a fair price for the oil too damaging to Chinese interests.
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