![]() Yuan and others attributed China’s reluctance to engage with Venezuela to Beijing’s stated position of non-interference when it comes to the domestic political matters of foreign partners. Silent on Political and Humanitarian Issues She pointed to the medical assistance China sent to help Venezuela weather the COVID-19 pandemic and Maduro’s public support for - and commitment to participate in - China’s Belt and Road Initiative as evidence that the relationship has not soured completely. In fact, Yuan argued that the relationship between China and Venezuela is still on good footing, despite the turbulence of recent years. “The importance of Venezuela to China is quite large, no matter what kind of political situation there is,” said Mengqi Yuan, a researcher on China-Latin America issues at Tsinghua University. ![]() Beijing also continues to diplomatically support Chavez’s successor, President Nicolás Maduro. Still, Venezuela remains China’s fourth largest oil importer. Increasingly concerned that the current Venezuelan economic model would never be able to produce consistent growth and reimburse lenders, Chinese officials cut off lending to Venezuela entirely in 2016. After Chavez’s death in 2013, and after the subsequent oil market crash of 2014, the relationship between China and Venezuela hit a number of roadblocks as the oil-driven Venezuelan economy began to sputter and then rapidly declined. However, this mutually beneficial relationship was centered on China’s dealings with one person in particular: then-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. “ presence and influence in the region has expanded and diversified so fast, starting with trade and investment, but really moving into all other sectors and aspects of life,” said Adriana Erthal Abdenur, the executive director of Plataforma CIPÓ in Brazil. In tandem with the economic boom, the bilateral relationship enjoyed a blossoming diplomatic exchange. “The China-Venezuela relationship was really billed as the poster child for China's win-win rhetoric,” said Ferchen. With a massive domestic demand for oil, Beijing and the China Development Bank (CDB) quickly keyed in on Venezuela’s rich oil industry - issuing loans backed by Venezuelan oil sales that created an economic boom for both countries. The modern relationship between China and Venezuela dates back to roughly 2003, when China began expanding its lending in Latin America. Whether China remains on the sidelines in Venezuela or becomes an active partner in the search for peace will be determined, in part, by whether the international community can find areas of shared interest with Beijing and create new opportunities for Chinese engagement. State Department, said, “There are a variety of ways in which China can be engaged and a variety of ways in which it can be moved to play a more helpful role in addressing what's happening inside Venezuela.” ![]() ![]() Speaking at a USIP-hosted event, Ambassador Thomas Shannon, Jr., a former undersecretary for political affairs at the U.S. Still, some see this historically strong bilateral relationship as an untapped source of momentum for resolving Venezuela’s crises. “China has more or less had its head in the sand, neither overtly criticizing Venezuela, nor offering as much support as other countries like Russia,” said Matthew Ferchen, a research fellow at Leiden University in the Netherlands, who authored a USIP Special Report on China-Venezuela relations. People wait in line as Red Cross workers distributed water containers and potable water purification tablets in Caracas, Venezuela, April 16, 2019. But as Venezuela descends further into uncertainty amid a host of economic, political and social crises, Beijing has remained mostly silent regarding the domestic political struggles of one its largest trading partners in Latin America. China has loaned more money to Venezuela - some $60 billion - than to any other country in the world and is Venezuela’s largest lender by far. Few countries can rival the creditor-lender relationship between China and Venezuela on pure volume.
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