China weighs four strategic questions after US strike on Venezuela

Independent.co reports Beijing said it was “deeply shocked” by the American strike on Venezuela and has called on the United States to release President Nicolás Maduro and his wife at once, while Chinese leaders consider four questions that will shape their response. Two days earlier Maduro met Xi’s special envoy Qiu Xiaoqi to discuss more than 600 agreements linking the countries on energy, infrastructure, finance and political co‑operation.

The first Chinese question is military: officials will scrutinise how US forces suppressed Venezuelan air defences and carried out a precision capture, and compare that with China’s own arsenal. The second is energy: official figures showed China received 700,000 out of 1.2 million barrels a day shipped by PDVSA under a loan‑for‑oil arrangement, and President Trump has said the oil will still flow but “has not said at what price.” The third is international position: Beijing’s spokesperson urged the US to “stop toppling the government of Venezuela”, saying the action “is in clear violation of international law, basic norms in international relations and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.” The fourth concerns Taiwan: while Xi is cautious about linking the two, China does not regard Taiwan as a sovereign state and treats any reclaiming of it as an internal matter.

Key Topics

World, China, Nicolas Maduro, Xi Jinping, Pdvsa, Taiwan