Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. PHOTO: Susan Walsh / AP / Profimedia
A few hours before his capture by the United States in a spectacular operation by US special forces, Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro met with a Chinese emissary, a fact that highlights the competition between the great powers of Washington and Beijing in the Western Hemisphere, writes Fox News.
Maduro welcomed Qiu Xiaoqi, the Chinese government's special representative for Latin American affairs, to the Miraflores presidential palace on Friday, where he reaffirmed Caracas' strategic ties with Beijing and pledged to build what he called “a multipolar world of development and peace.”
Coincidence or not, US President Donald Trump met with US Ambassador to China David Perdue on Friday evening.
And just hours later, the White House leader announced that US forces had struck targets inside Venezuela and arrested Maduro and his wife, flying them out of the country, a dramatic escalation of months of pressure on the Venezuelan autocrat.
Asked on “Fox and Friends” on Saturday about Maduro's meeting with China's representative just before his capture, Trump said: “I have a very good relationship with (Chinese President) Xi Jinping and there will be no problem. They will get oil.”
China condemned the American operation on Saturday. Beijing declared itself “deeply shocked” by the military attack against Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolas Maduro, denouncing the “hegemonic behavior” of the United States.
What China said after the US attacked Venezuela and captured Maduro
