2023-09-08 23:44:15
06:39 PM
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro arrived in China this Friday, on his first trip to the Asian giant since 2018, at a time when the country seeks support for its economy in crisis.
China maintains close relations with the internationally isolated Maduro government and is one of the main creditors of Venezuela, whose GDP fell 80% in a decade due to the effect of the economic crisis.
After landing in Shenzhen (south), where it was raining, Maduro showed himself ready for “a historic visit to strengthen ties of cooperation and the construction of a new global geopolitics,” according to a video published on X (formerly Twitter).
Beijing wants this visit, which will last until Thursday, to serve to take relations between both countries into “a new era,” according to Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Mutual political trust between the two countries is becoming very solid and cooperation in various fields is continuously expanding,” he noted.
In addition to China, Maduro will also travel to other “friendly countries,” as indicated in the parliamentary session to authorize this visit by the president of the Venezuelan Parliament, Jorge Rodríguez, without giving details.
“An iron relationship”
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez traveled to Shanghai and Beijing this week, and met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
“China and Venezuela have forged an unbreakable iron relationship, and China firmly supports Venezuela in safeguarding its national independence and national dignity,” Wang said.
The visit was aimed at obtaining new investments from China in the oil sector and discussing possible joint ventures between companies from the two countries, according to Bloomberg.
“Extraordinary working meeting with which we strengthen our bilateral relations, the expansion of strategic cooperation and international joint work, in favor of peace and respect for the principles and purposes of the UN Charter,” Rodríguez wrote in X .
In this same network, Nicolás Maduro Guerra, deputy and son of the president and also in China, said he would accompany Rodríguez to meet with former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, now head of the BRICS bank.
It will be the occasion, according to him, to “ratify Venezuela’s willingness to join” this bloc of emerging countries, made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
“Nothing and no one can block our country’s determination to be free and sovereign!” he added.
Maduro’s last visit to China was in 2018, during which he praised President Xi’s vision of a “common destiny for humanity.” This Friday is his eleventh visit to the Asian giant.
For his part, Xi visited the Latin American country in 2014.
Sanctions
Maduro’s visit to China comes as world leaders gather in India for a G20 summit from which the Chinese president will be absent.
China lent some $50 billion to Venezuela in the 2010s, an amount the South American country pledged to repay through oil shipments.
In 2018, the year in which Maduro won elections that were not recognized by a large part of the international community due to alleged irregularities, the debt amounted to 20 billion dollars.
In 2019, Washington, and a part of the international community, recognized Juan Guaidó, opposition leader who proclaimed himself interim president. The US president at the time, Donald Trump, imposed numerous sanctions on Caracas.
The Venezuelan opposition put an end to this interim presidency in January, believing that it had not met its objectives for political change.
The current Democratic government of Joe Biden, which succeeded Trump’s, maintains that it does not recognize Maduro as president and continues with most sanctions.
But Washington approved an oil project by the US company Chevron last year and has said it is willing to ease pressure if agreements are reached between Maduro and the opposition for presidential elections scheduled next year.
Venezuela had growth in 2022 following eight years of recession.
The rebound was driven by the relaxation of strict economic controls, which led to informal dollarization in the face of the weakness of the local currency, the bolivar, and reduced inflation although it remained one of the highest in the world.
However, at the end of last year the Venezuelan economy began to experience a slowdown process. But according to Maduro, GDP should grow more than 5% by the end of 2023, dismissing private projections.
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