Mao Ning

Venezuela is a sovereign state and has full permanent sovereignty over all its natural resources and economic activities. The US blatantly used force against Venezuela and asked the country to "favor" America with regard to its oil reserves. Such bullying seriously breaches international law, infringes on Venezuela's sovereignty, and violates the rights of the Venezuelan people. China strongly condemns this, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday.

Mao stressed that that the lawful rights and interests of China and other countries in Venezuela must be protected.

The Trump administration has told Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodríguez that Caracas must meet the White House's demands before being allowed to increase oil production, according to a media report citing three people familiar with the plan. 

The report underscores that Washington's earlier framing of its actions as "tackling drugs" largely serves as a pretext, with the seizure of Venezuela's oil resources remaining the core objective — an approach some Chinese experts describe as a form of neo-colonialism and hegemonism.

An ABC News report on Wednesday cited sources as saying that Venezuela must kick out China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba and sever economic ties. Venezuela must also agree to partner exclusively with the US on oil production and favor America when selling heavy crude oil. 

According to one person, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers in a private briefing on Monday that he believes the US can force Venezuela's hand because its existing oil tankers are full. Rubio also told lawmakers that the US estimates that Caracas has only a couple of weeks before it will become financially insolvent without the sale of its oil reserves, per ABC.

No country has the right to dictate whom another may cooperate with. Such demands reflect typical hegemonic thinking and violate Venezuela's sovereignty. For Trump administration, proposing stringent demands is a bargaining tactic designed to apply pressure and extract concessions, much like the US' approach in the tariff war, Sun Chenghao, a research fellow at Tsinghua University's Center for International Security and Strategy, told the Global Times. 

Behind Washington's actions lie both economic motives and great-power rivalry. Oil is central, with the aim of securing Venezuela's resources. Also, the US seeks to curb the presence of other major powers in the Western Hemisphere, particularly China and Russia's economic ties with Venezuela, Sun said.

The latest reports underscore that the earlier rhetoric of "fighting drugs" is primarily aimed at domestic US audiences, serving the needs of domestic politics and midterm elections. Washington's actions against Venezuela — including the seizure of the country's oil — are designed to advance its own political interests and those of key financial backers, Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times. 

Asked at a press conference on January 3 about US relations with China, Russia and Iran after the US military action in Venezuela, where all three countries have interests, Trump appeared to primarily address Beijing. "In terms of other countries that want oil, we're in the oil business. We're going to sell it to them," Trump claimed, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/venezuela-strikes/card/trump-suggests-venezuela-oil-exports-to-china-will-grow-mawzhI8LHNh2V4s5douU

On Tuesday, in a post on Truth Social, Trump claimed that "I am pleased to announce that the Interim Authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America." This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!" Trump claimed. 

The announcement came three days after US' forcible seizure of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, and his wife in Caracas, and took them to New York, where they are charged in a federal drug-trafficking conspiracy indictment, according to a report from the CNBC News. Maduro has pleaded not guilty to all the charges he is faced with.

In response to Trump's latest claim, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that Venezuela is a sovereign state and has full permanent sovereignty over all its natural resources and economic activities. The US' request violates international law, infringes on Venezuela's sovereignty and undermines the right of the Venezuelan people.

The cooperation between China and Venezuela is the cooperation between two sovereign states and is under protection of international law and relevant laws. The lawful rights and interests of China in Venezuela must be protected, Mao stressed.

What the US is doing is power-based coercion — pressuring other countries to surrender their resources. It reflects a form of neo-colonialism, or hegemonism. At its core, it amounts to blackmailing other countries through superior strength, said Li.