FPI / December 18, 2025
By Richard Fisher
On Dec. 17, 2025, China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi called Venezuela’s Minister of the People’s Power for Foreign Affairs Yvan Gil Pinto — at the latter’s request.
That same day third-level Chinese state media Guancha reported on the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s statement regarding that conversation:
“Wang Yi stated that China and Venezuela are strategic partners, and mutual trust and support are traditions in China-Venezuela relations. China opposes all unilateral bullying acts and supports all countries in safeguarding their sovereignty and national dignity. Venezuela has the right to independently develop mutually beneficial cooperation with other countries, and China believes that the international community understands and supports Venezuela’s position on safeguarding its legitimate rights and interests.”
China, of course, is currently committing “unilateral bullying acts” against Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines — which are democracies that China is preparing to wage war against, whereas the Venezuelan government of Nicholas Maduro, that is in league with China, Russia and Iran to sustain its horrid dictatorship, is now the “victim” of President Trump’s current attempt to topple his rule.
Trump has deployed one of the largest assemblages of U.S. naval, marine and air force to the Caribbean for possible military action against Venezuela for a number of reasons, to include, according to Trump that Maduro is “emptying his prisons and insane asylums” and “forcing” inmates to migrate to the U.S.
Maduro is also heavily involved in narcotics trafficking to the U.S. while Trump has designated Venezuelan gangs, Tren de Aragua and Cartel de los Soles, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), saying that the latter is led by Maduro himself.
There has been less commentary from the Administration regarding the degree to which Venezuela has become a strategic outpost in Latin America for Chinese, Russian and Iranian influence.
But the Trump Administration’s National Security Strategy released in November 2025 places priority on rebuilding U.S. influence in the Western Hemisphere and states:
“Non-Hemispheric competitors have made major inroads into our Hemisphere, both to disadvantage us economically in the present, and in ways that may harm us strategically in the future. Allowing these incursions without serious pushback is another great American strategic mistake of recent decades.”
But not to be outdone, on Dec. 10 the China State Council issued a third, 7000+ page White Paper on Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), that describes how China will advance its influence in Latin America.
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