Rep. Gregory Meeks warns China sees opportunity to justify Taiwan aggression by pointing to U.S. military action in Venezuela. House Foreign Affairs Committee members debate differences.

Venezuela is one of China’s closest political and economic partners in Latin America. Relations were consolidated with the rise to power of Hugo Chávez in 1999, based on massive Chinese loans to finance infrastructure and oil exports. From 2013, Maduro represented a deepening of the relationship.

China criticized the Trump administration’s reported call for Venezuela to sever its alliances with US rivals, labeling the move a “bullying act” as their competition for influence in the region emerges as a new source of friction.

China would need to do more than kill or capture Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, as that would leave intact the rest of the government, which has a clear line of succession. The PLA is thus likely to use decapitation strikes as part of a bigger operation, potentially a full-scale invasion.

Some Chinese online users are calling for a lightning Venezuela-style snatch of Taiwan's leaders in a prelude to taking over the island, but analysts, scholars and security officials say China's modernising military is still far from ready.

Energy experts say the US and China are diverging on the energy transition, with China sprinting far ahead on renewables and EVs, while the US doubles down on drilling oil at home and abroad.

The strategic relationship between Venezuela and China faces uncertainty after the United States military operation to capture deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Meanwhile, Chinese social media saw posts claiming that the U.

Venezuela's rare earth reserves could help reduce U.S. reliance on China by providing key elements of everyday and military technology, one expert says.