Sino-American rivalry at the root of Beijing's support for Maduro

Jess Centeno |

Beijing (EFE).- The rivalry with the United States is, according to some experts, the main reason why China rushed to support and congratulate Nicolas Maduro for his re-election as president of Venezuela after last Sunday's elections.

Venezuelan electoral authorities announced that with 80% of the vote, Maduro had won with 51.2% of the vote, but since then they have not offered a full count, raising suspicions of fraud from countries like the United States.

Washington even claimed that opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia was the winner of the presidential election, while Beijing took only a few hours to congratulate the Chavista leader.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said Monday that China and Venezuela are “good friends who support each other,” only to say a day later that “the choice of the Venezuelan people must be respected.”

To top it all off, Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Maduro in a letter and pledged to “firmly support Venezuela’s efforts to safeguard its national sovereignty and dignity.”

“Beijing is protecting a political ally and the main reason for this support is China's own rivalry with the United States, especially given its geographical position and what Venezuela symbolically represents in Latin America due to its anti-American discourse,” Carlos Eduardo Pia, from the Academic Network on China, Latin America and the Caribbean, based in Mexico, tells EFE.

Pia recalls that China timidly began this process of rapprochement with Venezuela with the arrival of President Hugo Chavez, who in turn tried to deepen ties with the Asian giant through the sale of oil.

“China has provided loans that it has paid in exchange for crude oil as part of South-South cooperation. With Maduro, regardless of economic interdependence, Beijing has become an important political ally to stabilize and legitimize its government internationally,” he continues.

Closer relationships

In the 2013 and 2018 elections, China was one of the first countries to congratulate Maduro, and in 2024 “it again gave its support but with a more assertive and direct tone than on previous occasions, when it asked the parties in conflict to there will be dialogue and the institutions will be respected.”

“Of course, there are also Chinese investments in some Venezuelan oil wells, such as the latest agreement with the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) for the investment of 28 billion dollars in a new project in the Orinoco oil belt. But above all, Venezuela maintains a discourse that can be useful to China in its international disputes with the United States on several fronts,” the researcher emphasizes.

Caracas has thus supported Beijing in its positions on the Hong Kong security law, the alleged allegations against the Uighur population in the Xinjiang region, on the question of Taiwan or in its disputes in the South China Sea.

“Maduro last visited China last year, when the relationship unexpectedly went from a comprehensive strategic partnership to a strategic partnership. Since then, there has been greater harmony between the different levels of government, cities and ministries. China had already unconditionally supported Maduro a few months ago, even when there was talk that he could disqualify all opposition candidates,” he added.

Chinese press attacks the United States

Meanwhile, the Chinese press these days criticizes the United States precisely for “increasing its interference in Venezuelan affairs, trying to reshape its political structure through ideology.”

“If a US-backed candidate wins an election, it will be considered fair and free. If not, it will be labeled unfair and lacking transparency. This tactic is to interfere in the internal affairs of other nations. “Washington regards Latin America as its backyard, so any political force or figure that opposes its will will become a target,” the state-run Global Times newspaper accused.

Chinese academic Li Haidong, quoted by the newspaper, points out that “the United States takes for granted that Latin American countries do not have the right to be independent,” while criticizing Washington's sanctions against the Maduro government “with a view to exacerbating the country's political and economic instability.”

Regarding the immediate future, Pia does not rule out Maduro visiting China in the coming months – in addition, this year marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Venezuela and China – but stresses that “if the Venezuelan political situation were to destabilize, Beijing would find itself in a very compromised situation.”

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