For years, China propped up the Venezuelan regime and pumped billions into energy projects. But, now, after President Donald Trump ousted its dictator, it is left holding the bag. Just days after authorizing the operation to strike Venezuela and capture its dictator, Nicolás Maduro, Trump reportedly demanded that Maduro’s successors cut economic ties with their three major partners: Iran, Russia and China.

These developments mark a rapid change in fortunes for Beijing, which had a senior delegation of officials visiting Caracas who met with Maduro just hours before he was seized in a strike by U.S. special forces. 

“Beijing got humiliated in Venezuela," expert says

For China, Venezuela was a significant partner in the Western Hemisphere, and the recipient of Beijing’s sizable investments in the country’s oil industry. In return, Beijing imported cheap oil from Caracas, which had difficulty selling elsewhere under U.S. sanctions. 

Though Venezuela’s oil production has steadily declined due to years of mismanagement, infrastructure decay, and U.S. sanctions, Beijing and its refineries have remained consistent customers for Caracas’ crude. Despite oil from Venezuela only making up a small portion of China’s total imports, the incident is an “embarrassment” for Beijing, Michael Sobolik, a Senior Fellow specializing in U.S.-China relations at the Hudson Institute, told Just the News.   

“Beijing got humiliated in Venezuela in multiple ways. Its air defenses didn't work properly. Their delegation had just finished meeting with Maduro hours before the US military snagged him. To top it off, the United States is blocking sanctioned oil exports,” said Sobolik.  

“Venezuela makes up a small percentage of China's oil imports, so it's mainly a point of public embarrassment for them. They can't stop America because they can't project power beyond their own near-abroad,” he added. 

Chinese relationship dates back to the Chavez regime

China’s close relationship with Venezuela began under the rule of Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez. In 2002, the two countries entered a strategic development partnership, primarily consisting of loans-for-oil deals, according to the Atlantic Council. From 2007 to 2017, China made available more than $60 billion in financing to Venezuela, accounting for 40% of its total lending in South America during that period. 

China’s oil-for-loans programs have left Beijing exposed now that the Trump administration wants Venezuela’s new leadership to cut those economic ties. According to The South China Morning Post, Caracas still has about $10 billion in outstanding loans with China. 

It is possible that the new regime, which is being led by Maduro’s former vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, may choose to challenge the legitimacy of these loans in order to avoid repayments. 

More than $2 billion from Chinese investors put into Venezuela's oil business

“To secure assistance from the International Monetary Fund and the United States, the new regime is likely to invoke the doctrine of ‘odious debt’ from Western legal systems, thereby providing a legal pretext for repudiating its obligations,” Cui Shoujun, director of the Centre for Latin American Studies at Beijing’s Renmin University of China, told SCMP. 

Since 2016, Chinese investors have put more than $2 billion into Venezuela’s oil industry, according to a 2023 estimate from the American Enterprise Institute. Chinese companies remain among the small number of foreign firms still operating in the country after sanctions were imposed.

Before U.S. sanctions in 2019, the China National Petroleum Corp, a major state-owned oil company in China, was a significant investor in Venezuela. It backed away after the sanctions, but continued to do business with Venezuela through other firms, Reuters reported. Another state-owned company, Sinopec, is reportedly still engaged in a joint venture that controls 2.8 million barrels of reserves in the country.  

Last year, a private Chinese company, China Concord Resources Corp, planned to invest more than $1 billion aimed at developing two of Venezuela’s oil fields that would net 60,000 barrels per day of crude oil by the end of 2026.  

China gives Maduro political support after questionable election

In addition to investments in Venezuela’s oil industry, Beijing consistently provided diplomatic support to Caracas and Maduro. 

In 2024, when Nicolás Maduro declared himself the winner of a heavily disputed election, the United States, and many of Venezuela’s neighbors, supported Maduro’s opposition, challenger Edmundo Gonzalez. Venezuela’s electoral council declared that Maduro had secured 51% of the vote to Gonzalez’s 44%, but these results contradicted exit polls that showed Gonzalez leading.  

China stepped in immediately and threw its full weight behind Maduro. In a statement, Chinese President Xi Jinping endorsed Maduro’s victory and asserted that China would "firmly support Venezuela's efforts to safeguard national sovereignty, national dignity, and social stability."

Earlier, in September 2023, Maduro and Xi announced that their relationship would be upgraded to an "all-weather strategic partnership.” 

When Maduro and Xi met earlier this year in Beijing, the Chinese Foreign Ministry described the relationship as such: “Xi Jinping pointed out, China and Venezuela are good partners of mutual trust and common development. The two sides have forged an ironclad friendship amid the evolving international landscape. Since the two countries elevated bilateral relations to an all-weather strategic partnership in 2023, exchanges across various fields and at all levels have been vigorous, with continuous growth in bilateral trade and new progress in investment cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.” 

China’s assistance has also extended to the military realm, though to a lesser degree than Venezuela's Iranian and Russian partners. In October, Venezuelan officials reportedly sent a letter to one of its primary backers, China, seeking its assistance to bolster Venezuela’s military capabilities.

In 2019, Venezuela purchased Chinese radar equipment. The radars received new attention after the strike when they appeared to provide little help to the Venezuelan forces trying to intercept U.S. planes and helicopters used in the attack. 

"They knew this was a narco-dictator," expert says

Some experts say that China remained eager to do business with Venezuela, even amid U.S. pressure and sanctions, in part to undermine the United States. 

“[Venezuela] has attracted all the bad actors from the world, and you know, the Chinese and the Russians. They have no qualms about who they'll do business with. They knew this was a narco-dictator. They knew what this country was doing was hurting the United States. They didn't care. They did it because they wanted to undermine the United States,” National Security Council Chief of Staff in Trump’s first term Fred Fleitz told the John Solomon Reports podcast. 

Chinese state media has also worked to promote protests against Maduro’s arrest inside the United States, Just the News reported today. Those protests appeared to be organized by a Chinese Communist Party-linked financial network in the United States emanating from the People’s Forum in New York City. 

Just the News previously reported on how these and other radical activist groups have leadership links or financial ties to a funding network backed by millionaire Marxist businessman Neville Roy Singham, who himself has connections to the CCP.