Above Photo: Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcome ceremony for his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro before their talks in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 14, 2018. Yao Dawei | Xinhua
The visit to China by President Maduro comes at a time of heightened tensions between the US, its allies and Venezuela. There are increasing threats of military action against Venezuela.
The recent meeting between President Maduro and Chinese President Xi Jinping deepened the alliance between the two nations. It is a message to the United States that they are no longer a hegemonic force in Latin America. Under the Monroe Doctrine the US considered Latin America its backyard, China is sending a message that even in its backyard, the US is no longer a unitary power.
Voice of America reports that this week “The head of the Organization of American States has joined President Donald Trump in holding out the threat of a military intervention in Venezuela to restore democracy and ease the country’s humanitarian crisis . . . ‘With respect to a military intervention to overthrow Nicolas Maduro’s regime, I don’t think any option should be ruled out,’ Almagro said at a press conference in the Colombian city of Cucuta. ‘What Nicolas Maduro’s regime is perpetrating are crimes against humanity, the violation of the human rights and the suffering of people that is inducing an exodus. Diplomatic actions should be the first priority but we shouldn’t rule out any action.’”
Countries in the region have condemned Luis Almagro’s comments describing them as part of a campaign to of “destabilization and intervention against the democracy and sovereignty of progressive governments in the region.” ALBA described the comments as violating international law and overstepping the authority of the OAS. Evo Morales described Almagro as a “slavish agent of the Empire, all alone with his coup plotting obsession.” In his home country of Uruguay the Communist Party described Almagro as “long transformed into a pawn of Yankee imperialism.”
The military threats are occurring as Brazil, which shares a border with Venezuela is sending troops to the border claiming it is because of the increase in migrants from Venezuela. The coup government in Brazil is closely allied with the United States and is very unpopular. The first poll since the Unified Workers Union placed Fernando Haddad on the ballot replacing Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has him jumping to the lead in the presidential election. Reuters reports that “Brazilian far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro … tipped as his running mate a controversial retired military general who said last year that a military coup was possible in the country.” France 24 reports “More than 30 years after Brazil’s junta left power, the consensus that the military should stay out of politics has been broken.”
There have been reports of potential US military attacks against Venezuela for months. This summer it was reported that earlier in his presidency Trump urged an invasion of Venezuela. There were reports of troop movements and other actions in a potential build up to a military attack before the Venezuelan election. This summer, Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, completed a tour of allies in Latin America where he reportedly discussed the military option against Venezuela. Among the nations included in the tour were Venezuela border nations Colombia and Brazil. Former Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, did a tour of Latin America in February calling for a military coup in Venezuela. Recent reports indicate that the Trump administration met with coup officers from Venezuela about a military takeover. This has been building for awhile as there were military training exercises with the US and its allies off the Venezuela coast in 2017. It is not only military action but this summer it was reported that there had been plans to assassinate Maduro a year ago and another plan to kidnap him before the recent election both were called of or prevented. In August there was an attempt to assassinate President Maduro where the US and Colombia were implicated. USAID’s chief, Mark Green, visited the Colombia-Venezuela border in July pledging funds for Colombia as part of the US intervention campaign. USAID is one of the agencies that supports regime change campaigns for the United States.
The meeting between China and Venezuela this week is a bold move by President Xi Jinping to show his support for President Maduro when Venezuela is under grave threats from the United States. Out of the meeting came deeper involvement with the announcement of bilateral business committee as part of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two nations. Venezuela Analysis reported that Venezuela and China announced 28 bi-lateral agreements, Venezuela became the second Latin American country (Uruguay was first) to join the New Silk Road Initiative and received a $5 billion loan from China.
The message is that the US must respect the sovereignty of nations as they do not stand alone but have the support of the largest economy on the planet. This relationship is a sign that the end of the Monroe Doctrine, which kept countries from outside of Latin America out of the area, is coming to an end. KZ
Given the humble goal of Caracas to free itself from the domineering whims of a U.S. imperialism keen on reviving the notorious Monroe Doctrine, it is obvious why the U.S. would see sinister motives in the fraternal reception Beijing has offered to the Venezuelan head of state.
BEIJING – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro received a rare yet exceedingly warm welcome Thursday as he landed in Beijing, where the oft-maligned leader and target of U.S.-spearheaded regime-change efforts will discuss new ways in which his government and the People’s Republic of China can deepen their relations and strengthen their long-running ties.
The state visit, which came at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, gives the elected leader of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela an important opportunity to break from the imposed isolation his government has suffered amid the concerted economic, diplomatic, and propaganda war being waged on the South American nation.
Maduro departed his home country vowing “great expectations” and promising “big achievements” by the end of the trip. In a televised address Wednesday, Maduro said:
We are leaving under better conditions, having activated a program of economic recovery, growth and prosperity. We are going to improve, broaden and deepen relations with this great world power.”
In the past several years, Venezuelan finances have been on the rocks amid plummeting commodity prices that have shaken oil-exporting nations across the globe. The country has approximately $8.3 billion in foreign exchange reserves and its ability to access external financing has been hobbled by an unceasing flow of sanctions from Washington.
Venezuela has seen the intense opposition protests from last year fade, only to be replaced by a massive migratory crisis and increased fears of U.S.-led military interventions or U.S.-supported coups. Last month, Maduro was the subject of an assassination attempt when an explosives-laden drone targeted him during a military parade.
Axis of Evil 2.0 or simple shared interests?
Bloomberg reported Thursday that China had agreed to extend a $5 billion line of credit to Venezuela, which would be repayable in either cash or oil. The two countries will also likely sign a strategic accord on gold mining, Venezuelan Finance Minister Simon Zerpa told Bloomberg News. “Venezuela has a great alliance with China,” the minister stressed.
Beijing, for its part, has expressed glowing confidence in Venezuela’s ability to rebound from a thoroughgoing economic crisis that has shaken the foundations of the left-wing government.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters Thursday that the state visit by Maduro would serve to benefit “ both sides’ mutual trust, to push forward cooperation, to expand ties between the two countries, and to promote Venezuela’s development.”
For over a decade, China – a top oil-importing nation – has agreed to $50 billion in loans to Venezuela as a means to secure oil from a country with the largest oil reserves in the world. Since August, China has largely halted its oil imports from the U.S. amid the raging trade war between the two countries, largely in fear of the possibility that U.S. crude – which takes months to ship by sea to China – would be added to Beijing’s tariffs list.
China’s relations with Venezuela have also granted Caracas a crucial means by which it can weather a storm of pressure from Washington, which sees any sign of defiance as an unforgivable sign of misconduct in its so-called “backyard.”
However, Beijing has recoiled at the accusation that it is simply interested in a geopolitical chess game with Washington, whereby the growing Asian giant is purely motivated by the goal of reducing its strategic partners to the level of pawns.
In a Thursday editorial, China’s state-owned Global Times newspaper pointedly remarked:
President Maduro’s China tour will give rise to many conjectures from Western media. But they should be more realistic.”
In recent years, China has assisted Venezuela in social projects meant to renovate the country’s poor barrios and build over ten thousand fully-furnished housing projects; helped launch satellites to bring telecommunications and internet services to poor regions in the country; and assisted in the upkeep and modernization of the country’s oil-production infrastructure.
The two countries have formed joint ventures for the production of automobiles, mobile phones, passenger vehicles and computers, and Venezuela also provides a crucial market for various Chinese consumer goods. Caracas has also taken a great interest in Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative and its expansion to Latin America, a region China sees as a natural extension of its 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road trade and development plan.
By continuing to show its support for the beleaguered government of President Maduro, Beijing is hoping to champion what it sees as an innovative model of South-South cooperation with a state that still enjoys a broad and significant level of popular support in spite of its detractors.
In essence, China is also hoping to throw its weight behind those countries that are struggling to pursue an independent development path in a region that has, throughout its entire modern history, been subject to the whims of foreign powers.
Given the humble goal of Caracas to simply free itself from the domineering whims of a U.S. imperialism keen on reviving the notorious Monroe Doctrine, it is obvious why the United States would see sinister motives in the fraternal reception Beijing has offered to the Venezuelan head of state.