Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's fifth visit to China and called on the two sides to renew bilateral ties and strive to achieve a closer Sino-Venezuelan strategic partnership.
“Chinese President Xi Jinping and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Moros jointly announced on Wednesday the elevation of the two countries' relations to an all-weather strategic partnership. China will continue to firmly support Venezuela's efforts to safeguard national sovereignty, dignity, and social stability, as well as its just cause against external interference, Xi told visiting Maduro on Wednesday afternoon.
Chinese experts said Maduro's seven-day ‘historic’ visit to China marks that the bilateral relationship is entering a new stage, as the two signed cooperation agreements on jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and in the economic, education, technology, and aerospace arenas, as well as other areas. Experts believe that the visit will unveil a new chapter of cooperation with China that will inject new impetus into Venezuela's development, which has entered a new stage of development after weathering the impact of U.S. sanctions and is now experiencing economic recovery.
They believe it is the special appeal of China's development model and plan for overcoming the world's common challenges that helped unite developing and emerging economies, amid rising anti-unilateralism.
China has always viewed the development of its relationship with Venezuela from a strategic and long-term perspective. We will continue to firmly support Venezuela's efforts to safeguard national sovereignty, dignity, and social stability, as well as its just cause against external interference, Xi said.
Xi also announced with Maduro the elevation of the China-Venezuela relationship to an all-weather strategic partnership.
The establishment of an all-weather strategic partnership between China and Venezuela meets the common expectations of the two peoples and conforms to the general trend of historical development, Xi said, calling on the two sides to push for more fruitful China-Venezuela strategic cooperation, bring more benefits to the two peoples and inject more positive energy into world peace and development.
The two leaders witnessed the signing of multiple bilateral cooperation agreements in the fields of the BRI, economy and trade, education, tourism, science and technology, healthcare, aerospace, and civil aviation.
In the joint declaration of elevating ties, the two countries believe it is necessary for collective efforts to uphold the common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom for all humanity, oppose all forms of hegemonism and power politics, oppose all forms of unilateralism, oppose the formation of exclusive cliques targeting specific countries.
They agreed to accelerate the signing of the cooperation documents for joint construction of the BRI. China and Venezuela signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for cooperation on the BRI on September 14th, 2018.
The two countries also signed agreements on investment, agreed to deepen legal exchanges and deepen cooperation on energy, finance, trade, investment, digital economy, and other fields, as well as encourage the two countries' airlines to open flights on the China-Venezuela route in a timely manner based on market needs.
Venezuela reiterated its interest in joining the BRICS and vowed to make contributions as a reliable energy supplier with the country's large oil and natural gas reserves.
Xu Shicheng, a research fellow at the Institute of Latin American Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that in recent years, China's relationship with Venezuela witnessed rapid development with both sides reaching agreements on lunar exploration, big data, and other areas. ‘The two countries share a high degree of mutual trust. This visit will bring bilateral ties to a new stage’, Xu said.
Venezuela has suffered from illegal unilateral sanctions from the U.S. and its allies, which exerted a heavy blow to the South American country's development. However, Venezuela's economy began to pick up in 2021, and its surrounding diplomatic environment is less hostile, Xu said, noting that cooperation with China can inject new impetus into Venezuela's economic recovery.
Since last year, Colombia began mending fences with Venezuela, including signing an unprecedented bilateral investment treaty in February this year that evidences the marked improvement in their relations.
Song Wei, a professor at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times that most developing countries are confident about China's growth and openness. ‘China's continuing opening-up amid anti-globalization and geopolitical tussles has certainly infused confidence into the world’, Song said, noting that developing countries' recognition also serves as a rebuttal for the ‘China's economic collapse’ hype that is popular among some Western countries”. -Zhao Yusha, Global Times
Given how the United States has been willing to go after China’s backyard with its meddling in Taiwan, it should come as no surprise that, in the wake of the U.S. being driven out of the South China Sea, it's now looking as though it may be incapable of defending its monopoly over the Western hemisphere.
Whereas the U.S. oftentimes punishes governments for seeking to establish multilateral ties with sanctioned regimes, Beijing has shown a commitment to counteract its ability to impose sanctions intended to pressure foreign countries like Venezuela into not severing Western relations and ultimately free themselves from America’s financial hegemony.