According to foreign ministry in Beijing, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro visits China on Friday to shore up country’s faltering finances.
As a result of the economic crisis, the GDP of oil-rich Venezuela has decreased by 80 percent. China, its main creditor, maintains close relations with this internationally isolated country.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said that Xi Jinping personally invited Mr. Maduro.
At the invitation of President Xi Jinping, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro Moros will pay a state visit to China from September 8 to 14.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez visited Shanghai and Beijing this week, where she met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
China and Venezuela have forged an unbreakable, ironclad friendship, and China firmly supports Venezuela in safeguarding its national independence and national dignity.
During the visit, Venezuela also plans to receive investments in new oil from Beijing and discuss a possible joint venture between Venezuelan and Chinese oil companies, Bloomberg reports.
Venezuela, which has suffered from the economic crisis, is considered a country with one of the worst inflations in the world. In the hope of recovering from the consequences of the crisis, Venezuela has been turning to China for support for a long time.
Nicolas Maduro, criticising the United States, said that the fate of humanity depends on the fight against the “hegemonic empire that blackmails, dominates and attacks the peoples of the world.”
Xi Jinping paid an official visit to Venezuela in 2014. China has provided the country with a loan worth about $ 50 billion. Caracas repaid the debt with oil, of which it has some of the largest reserves in the world. In 2018, it owed Beijing $20 billion.
According to the Atlantic Council, China has also provided Venezuela with extensive technological assistance in expanding control over its population. In 2020, the analytical center provided a report stating the following:
The homeland card, inspired by China’s national identity card program, is used by the Venezuelan regime to provide food and medicine to citizens, as well as to track voting and social media use.
The United States, under the leadership of President Joe Biden, declares that they still do not recognise illegitimate Maduro and and will not lift sanctions. Despite this, the White House last year approved Chevron’s oil project in Venezuela, thereby expressing readiness to further ease pressure in exchange for progress.
