China Reaffirms Support for Venezuela

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian on Wednesday said that China opposes “external interference” in Venezuela’s affairs amid rising tensions between the South American country and the United States.

“China stands against any action that violates the purposes and principles of the UN Charter or infringes on countries’ sovereignty and security, and opposes external interference in Venezuela’s domestic affairs under any pretext,” Lin said. “China calls on all parties to keep Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace and prevent further escalation.”

Lin delivered his remarks during a Wednesday press conference in response to President Donald Trump’s recent announcement that airlines should consider Venezuelan airspace to be closed.

China is one of dictator Nicolás Maduro’s most crucial key allies and has provided numerous forms of support to the rogue socialist regime, especially in recent years. Beijing has prominently helped the Venezuelan regime evade U.S. oil sanctions, including reports indicating that Venezuela is also evading sanctions by “rebranding” China-bound oil shipments as Brazilian, using Malaysia a key trans-shipment hub.

Over the past months, China has stood in support of Venezuela amid the United States’ ongoing military deployment in the Caribbean and the military’s actions against drug traffickers operating in the region.

According to the Chinese communist regime, the United States’ drug-fighting efforts in the Caribbean represent an “interference” in Venezuelan affairs, an assertion China reiterated in late November.

The Maduro regime appears to have been flaunting the support received from China. On Tuesday, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil met with Lan Hu, China’s ambassador to Caracas. According to Gil, the meeting aimed to “further strengthen the strategic alliance between our brother countries.”

Gil claimed in a Telegram post that he received a message from Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his meeting with Lan in which Wang “reaffirmed China’s unwavering support for the Venezuelan people’s struggle to defend our sovereignty and for Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, as declared in 2014 by our peoples in CELAC.”

“The foreign minister expressed his firm conviction that, together, we will achieve the ultimate victory: the victory of peace. On behalf of President Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela reaffirms the ‘unwavering and enduring’ strategic partnership that safeguards the sovereignty, cooperation, and interests of our nations,” Gil wrote.

CELAC, or the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, is a 33-regional bloc founded by Venezuela’s late socialist dictator Hugo Chávez in Caracas in 2011 that excludes the United States and Canada. The “Zone of Peace” declaration that both Chinese Foreign Minister Wang and spokesman Lin both referred to, is a 2014 CELAC declaration deeming Latin America as a “territory of peace.” 

Although Maduro and his leftist allies in the region have used the 2014 declaration to deter any possible actions against the rogue regime, CELAC operates as a political forum and not as a treaty-based body. As such, its declarations are political agreements rather than legally binding rulings.

VTV, the Maduro regime’s main propaganda channel, reported on Tuesday that Ambassador Lan accompanied Mayor of Caracas Carmen Meléndez in the “Grand China-Venezuela Friendship Plaza,” located next to a monument that the Venezuelan socialists inaugurated in September to commemorate China’s “victory” during World War II. According to VTV, the plaza’s main purpose is to “celebrate and promote China’s rich culture and history, while providing a multifunctional environment that benefits local residents”

“We also want to say that we are very close, very good friends, and we always stand with the Venezuelan people. China and Venezuela are true lovers of peace, life, happiness, and our future, and we want to work together to deepen this great friendship and cooperation so that our peoples can become closer and more united. Because we will fight and we will win. Thank you,” Lan reportedly said.

The Venezuelan regime, since the rule of late dictator Hugo Chávez, owes billions of dollars to the Chinese regime, but no regime official has publicly disclosed the exact amount or terms of the debt at press time. Bloomberg Línea reported on Wednesday morning that Venezuela has the largest credit exposure to China, at an estimated $59.2 billion since 2005 according to data compiled by the Institute of International Finance (IIF).

Jonathan Fortun, economist at the IIF, explained to the outlet that the relationship with China would not be resolved immediately if there is a regime change in Venezuela, but it would open a window to “restructure and clarify the actual debt stock.”

“There are precedents that China can be flexible when seeking to avoid a disorderly default,” Fortun reportedly said.

The economist asserted that, in the Venezuelan case, the complexity is greater because a “significant” part of the financial relationship was structured through crude oil shipments to China as a form of repayment, with multiple operational adjustments over time.

“Credit dynamics are no longer the driving force behind the relationship. Sovereign financing has lost prominence and been replaced by real flows,” Fortun said. “Chinese direct investment has increased its presence in strategic sectors such as infrastructure, energy, logistics, mining, and electromobility.”

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.