China reacts with condemnation — but no threats — as the fallout from Trump’s Venezuela attack begins to ripple
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China reacts with condemnation — but no threats — as the fallout from Trump’s Venezuela attack begins to ripple
08 mins
China — one of the world’s biggest buyers of Venezuelan oil — reacted to President Trump’s ouster of the Latin American country’s leader over the weekend with a series of condemnations but no signals of retaliation so far, as the world continues to assess the shocking weekend move to arrest President Nicolás Maduro.
China is “deeply shocked,” a Foreign Ministry spokesperson offered in a statement, accusing the US of “hegemonic acts.”
“We call on the U.S. to abide by international law … and stop violating other countries’ sovereignty and security,” the statement added. Meanwhile, Trump repeatedly brushed off the chances of his move rupturing relations between the world’s two largest economies.
The back-and-forth is being closely watched because of China’s close relations with the Maduro regime, dating to a deal between the two nations forged in 2007 under then-President Hugo Chávez. That pact led China to become the main consumer of Venezuelan energy and, reportedly, a major creditor to the Chávez and then Maduro regimes in return.
Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a speech at a New Year gathering in Beijing on Dec. 31. (Yan Yan/Xinhua via Getty Images) ·Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
As Capital Economics put it in an analysis early Monday, “Venezuela had, of course, become China’s strongest ally in Latin America: if things go according to the US administration’s apparent plan, that will be over.”
Indeed, China had repeatedly offered support to Venezuela in recent months, and Maduro even received a Chinese delegation in Caracas last Friday.
Video of the greetings showed Maduro wishing the Chinese officials a Happy New Year in what turned out to be one of his last appearances before he was arrested by US forces and removed from the country.
For his part, Trump on Saturday responded to a question about China and other nations’ interests in Venezuela by suggesting that any problems would be resolved by oil.
“We’ll be selling oil, probably at much larger doses,” the president said of how he’d oversee the country, adding that countries like China will continue to have access.
Trump added to reporters on Sunday that he didn’t think the move would impact his “very good relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump also reaffirmed previously announced plans to travel to China in April.
Other initial analyses of the aftermath have tended to agree that economic changes may be less dramatic after a weekend that saw US bombs fall on Caracas and a daring raid by US forces lead to Maduro’s arrest and extradition to New York.
Energy analysts at JPMorgan wrote in a note to clients that “while the administration’s recently released National Security Strategy aims to limit Chinese, Russian, and Iranian influence in the Western Hemisphere, Chinese companies may still be permitted to pursue investments in Venezuela’s oil sector.”
The note pointed out that Chinese companies have invested billions in recent years, including a new investment last year from a private Chinese firm called the China Concord Resources Corp.
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters aboard Air Force One on his way back to Washington on January 4 after spending the holidays at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. (Jim WATSON / AFP via Getty Images) ·JIM WATSON via Getty Images
At the same time, others in the Trump administration made clear that the move against Venezuela was at least partly about limiting Chinese options.
On NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that “what we’re not going to allow is for the oil industry in Venezuela to be controlled by adversaries of the United States,” adding “you can’t turn Venezuela into the operating hub … for China” and other US adversaries.
It was a mix of signals that suggests the back-and-forth between the two superpowers is likely to continue as the reordered landscape in Latin America — and exactly what Trump means when he talks about “running” Venezuela — becomes clearer in the weeks ahead.
“Markets should anticipate some sort of US-specific China economic response and an at least short-term uptick in US-China ‘competition’ tensions,” Terry Haines of Pangaea Policy offered in a weekend note to clients about the strike.
But for now, China’s interests in Venezuela haven’t been mentioned in the weekend flurry of condemnations from the country’s leadership.
State media in Beijing published a series of stories critical of the move but notably without any evident threats of changing relations.
The country’s foreign minister asserted Sunday that it is wrong for any country to “claim itself to be an international judge.”
Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
