Venezuela and China

There's been plenty of stories about Russia and Venezuela. Some of this is no doubt driven by President Trump. For example, he claimed that Russia would be pulling their troops out of Venezuela. The Russians later denied this claim.

I think less is discussed about China's role in Venezuela. This Al Jazeera opinion article looks into China's involvement with Venezuela and why it is still siding with the Maduro government.

China, a global power with significant financial and military ties to Venezuela, refused to recognise Guaido's presidency on the grounds that doing so would amount to intervening in the internal affairs of a sovereign state . . . Meanwhile, acknowledging the important role China has been playing in the ongoing crisis, Guaido started a campaign to convince Beijing to end its support for the Chavista government.


The opinion piece then looks into why China is still backing Maduro:

First: Beijing is still siding with the Venezuelan government because it believes having a like-minded socialist ally in the US' backyard is more important than any costs it may incur as a result of the ongoing Venezuelan crisis.

Second: Additionally, "south-south cooperation" is currently one of the mainstays of China's foreign policy and Beijing does not want to risk its reputation as a leading trading partner and trustworthy investor in the global south by siding with a US-backed opposition group and supporting its attempt to unlawfully topple the legitimate government of a sovereign country.

Third: Today, Beijing has no reason to believe that after taking power the opposition would agree to pay back the debts accumulated under Chavista governments.

Fourth: The Venezuelan opposition's close relations with the Trump administration is another reason why China continues to support Maduro.

The second reason can be contrasted with President Trump and his willingness to destroy all previous treaties/agreements.

I think one point being left off the list is that China doesn't want a dictator disposed as it might one day come back to impact them. The article does state the following: The official reason behind this position is that the Chinese government is not willing to intervene in a sovereign nation's internal affairs. But it doesn't take the next step that indicates that China is also a dictatorship. If China supports a move towards democracy for Venezuela, the people of China may one day ask for a similar rule of government for themselves.

Also, I think China just doesn't want to give President Trump a "win" on the international front that would look like China "lost."