Thug-dictator and illegitimate Venezuelan "president" Nicolás Maduro is now facing charges in the United States. Much of the international community (except Venezuela's neighbors) has been waving their hands and twittering their consternation. Most of Europe is upset, and honestly, they can be upset all they like; it's not their hemisphere.
Of course, it's not China's hemisphere, either, but they have economic ties to the late, unlamented Maduro regime; and, in fact, the Middle Kingdom has a delegation in Caracas right now, no doubt still burping from a late lunch and wondering just what the heck they're supposed to do now.
JUST IN: 🇨🇳🇻🇪 Chinese officials arrive in Venezuela for talks with President Nicolás Maduro. pic.twitter.com/abviFRZV3f
— BRICS News (@BRICSinfo) January 3, 2026
China - and by China, I mean the Chinese Communist Party, as the two are largely inseparable - didn't waste any time complaining.
China said it’s “deeply shocked” by the US’s military strikes on Venezuela and its capture of President Nicolas Maduro.
China “strongly condemns the US’s blatant use of force against a sovereign state and action against its president,” a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a statement late Saturday. “Such hegemonic acts of the US seriously violate international law and Venezuela’s sovereignty, and threaten peace and security in Latin America and the Caribbean region. China firmly opposes it.”
The US strikes and Maduro’s capture came just after he received a high-level Chinese delegation in Caracas on Friday, including Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Latin American Affairs Qiu Xiaoqi.
“We call on the US to abide by international law and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and stop violating other countries’ sovereignty and security,” the Chinese ministry said.
It's tempting at this point to cry out, "Look who's talking!" China is clearly trying to establish its own hegemony in the West Pacific, while sending its economic tentacles out into places like sub-Saharan Africa and South America - why else would they have had a delegation in Caracas?
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Notice the language here, in Beijing's statement. Venezuela has, arguably, not been a "sovereign state" or at least, not a legitimate state, since Maduro lost the 2024 election and then remained in power anyway, throwing out the will of the Venezuelan people. He was not the legitimate president. If "international law" were all that concerned about Venezuelan sovereignty, the international community would have acted when Maduro refused to concede an election he clearly lost.
Yes, it would have been preferable if the Venezuelan people rose and tossed Maduro out on his keister by themselves. But now America has done it; it's a fait accompli, and no matter how loud China squawks, Maduro isn't coming back from this.
Look, certainly, whoever President Trump sends to Caracas to start picking up the pieces would happily sit down with the Chinese delegation. One of the first things that the Chinese trade representatives will be told, though, will likely be "No, there won't be any more tramp tankers full of Venezuelan oil headed your way - oh, and by the way, Venezuela won't be importing any more Chinese fentanyl precursors. Legitimate trade with Venezuela, sure, but the happy old days of Maduro are over. That's the message China needs to absorb, whether it comes from an American source or an interim Venezuelan government.
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