\n<\/p>\n
China has called on the United States to immediately release Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro after Washington carried out massive military strikes on the capital, Caracas, as well as other regions, and abducted the leader.<\/p>\n
Beijing on Sunday insisted the safety of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores be a priority, and called on the US to \u201cstop toppling the government of Venezuela\u201d, calling the attack a \u201cclear violation of international law\u201c.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n It was the second statement issued by China since Saturday, after US President Donald Trump said Washington had taken Maduro and his wife and flown them out of the country.<\/p>\n On Saturday, Beijing slammed the US for \u201chegemonic acts\u201d and \u201cblatant use of force\u201d against Venezuela and its president, urging Washington to abide by the United Nations charter.<\/p>\n China is closely watching developments in Venezuela, according to Andy Mok, a senior research fellow at the Center for China and Globalisation.<\/p>\n Mok told Al Jazeera that a Chinese delegation had met Venezuelan officials just hours before the US action, adding that Beijing was not surprised by Washington\u2019s move, given the scale of US strategic and economic interests in the region.<\/p>\n What did stand out, he said, was how the operation was carried out, as it may \u201crepresent the long-term US strategy in the region\u201d.<\/p>\n China is Venezuela\u2019s largest buyer of oil, Mok added, although the country accounts for only 4-5 percent of its total oil imports. Beyond energy, he said, China has growing trade and investment interests across Latin America, meaning Beijing is paying close attention to political shifts in the region.<\/p>\n Mok warned that if a future US administration were to revive a Monroe Doctrine-style policy, it could increase tensions with China, as Latin America is a \u201cpillar of China\u2019s Global South strategy\u201d.<\/p>\n Still, China is likely to limit its response to the events in Venezuela to diplomatic protest rather than hard power, according to China-based analyst Shaun Rein.<\/p>\n \u201cI think China has issued a very strong condemnation of the United States, and they\u2019re working with other Latin American and Caribbean countries to say this isn\u2019t right,\u201d Rein, founder of the China Market Research Group, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Rein said Beijing is deeply alarmed but constrained, and its options are limited.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s not a lot of things that China can do. Frankly, it doesn\u2019t have the military power. It only has two military bases outside of China, while America has 800,\u201d Rein noted, stressing that, \u201chistorically, China is not warlike\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cChina is just going to make proclamations criticising the United States\u2019 actions, but they\u2019re not going to push back with military action, and they\u2019re probably not going to push back with economic sanctions.\u201d<\/p>\n World reaction has poured in since the US military action in Venezuela, with opinion firmly split over the intervention.<\/p>\n Left-leaning regional leaders, including those of Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Mexico, have largely denounced Maduro\u2019s ouster, while countries with right-wing governments, from Argentina to Ecuador, have largely welcomed it.<\/p>\n \u200dNorth \u200dKorea denounced the US. strikes on \u2060Venezuela, saying \u200bthe act \u200dis \u201cthe most serious form of encroachment of \u200dsovereignty,\u201d \u2060state news agency KCNA said on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cThe incident is another \u200bexample \u200cthat clearly confirms once again the rogue and brutal \u200cnature of \u200cthe United \u2060States,\u201d KCNA said, citing a spokesperson for \u200cNorth Korea\u2019s Foreign Ministry.<\/p>\n South Korea also responded on Sunday, calling for a de-escalation of tensions.<\/p>\n \u201cOur government urges all involved parties to make utmost efforts toward easing regional tensions. We hope for a quick stabilisation of the situation via dialogue, ensuring democracy is restored, and the will of the Venezuelan people is honoured,\u201d its Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.<\/p>\n Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Sunday said he backed a \u201cpeaceful, democratic transition\u201d of power in Venezuela, but urged that international law be respected.<\/p>\n His government was \u201cmonitoring developments\u201d, he said in a statement.<\/p>\n Venezuela has been increasingly isolated, particularly after Maduro\u2019s contested election in 2024.<\/p>\n China and Russia, however, continue to maintain strong economic and strategic ties, and alliances have grown with Iran over their shared opposition to US policy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n China has called on the United States to immediately release Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro after Washington carried out massive military strikes on the capital, Caracas, as well as other regions, and abducted the leader. Beijing on Sunday insisted the safety of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores be a priority, and called on the US […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
Global condemnations, celebrations<\/h2>\n
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