Venezuela will ensure that Chinese energy, trade and investment interests in the South American country are secure, its envoy to Beijing has said.
The reassurance from Remigio Ceballos comes amid growing concern in Beijing that last month’s unprecedented US assault on Venezuela might complicate China’s ties with the resource-rich country and the wider region.
“China and Venezuela are trusted partners who share mutual trust. Both nations are sovereign states, and their bilateral relationship shall remain unaffected by the interference of other countries,” Ceballos told reporters in Beijing on Tuesday.
08:25
How Maduro’s abduction is set to change Latin America
How Maduro’s abduction is set to change Latin America
The day marked one month since US special forces breached the fortified compound of former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, capturing him and his wife Cilia Flores and seizing the country’s oil industry – its economic engine.
Ceballos described the abduction of Maduro as a “warning to the entire world”, but sought to play down the impact on Venezuela’s ties with China – a close partner of Maduro and a major buyer of Venezuelan oil.
“No, there is no government in the world capable of breaking our [relations] between China and Venezuela,” he asserted.
“Chinese enterprises operating in Venezuela and investments from other nations continue to progress normally. This applies not only to the petroleum sector but to all areas of cooperation with Venezuela.”
The ambassador also dismissed reports suggesting that Washington would set the price for all oil transactions between China and Venezuela.
