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Some have asked whether America’s actions in Caracas could pave the way for something similar in Taipei
THE FINAL foreign visitors to meet Nicolás Maduro in Caracas—prior to his unscheduled rendezvous with American troops—were senior Chinese diplomats. Just hours before he was snatched from his bedroom, Mr Maduro received a delegation led by Xi Jinping’s special envoy for Latin America. “China and Venezuela! United!” declared the beaming Venezuelan president, extolling the strength of the country’s strategic relationship with China. It is thus not hard to see why China reacted with such shock to Donald Trump’s stunning intervention in Venezuela. Not only did America capture one of China’s closest South American allies, it also exposed the limits of Chinese power.
An image of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in the Nike Tech Fleece tracksuit, posted by U.S. President Donald Trump on his Truth Social account REUTERS/Marco Bello(REUTERS)
The more interesting question is what Mr Maduro’s capture means for China’s standing with its partners around the world. Venezuela has been the biggest recipient of official Chinese loans and grants in South America, receiving about $106bn between 2000 and 2023, according to AidData, a research centre at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. Much of that flowed to Venezuelan infrastructure projects, especially for energy production. In recent years China has shifted its focus to restructuring debt because of Venezuela’s economic troubles. And China has become indispensable as one of the few countries defying American sanctions. Although China gets only about 5% of its oil imports from Venezuela, that is enough to account for a whopping 80% of international demand for Venezuelan crude.
