The "iron rod" friendship between China and Venezuela will become even stronger and deeper | Maduro's visit to China for trade after 5 years | China | Friendship

Release time:Apr 16, 2024 20:39 PM

Currently, China's staunch friend and Venezuelan President Maduro is conducting a colorful visit to China.

This is his first state visit to China in five years. Venezuela described this visit to China as a "historic visit" and hopes to strengthen close contacts and strategic partnerships with China in economic, technological, and trade affairs.

China and Venezuela have walked through 49 years of cold and summer together, and we believe that this visit can also bring a fruitful season to bilateral relations during this harvest season.

Seeking all-round cooperation

"We're back in China again." According to the Global Times, Maduro excitedly announced on his personal social media account after arriving at his first stop in Shenzhen in the rain on the 8th. He also emphasized that this is a "historic visit".

From factors such as time, lineup, and itinerary, Maduro's visit to China can indeed be considered "historic".

Firstly, there is ample time. The visit started on September 8th and ended on September 14th, lasting for a week. Three more days than the last trip to China in September 2018.

Secondly, the lineup is strong. The dual deployment of the President and Vice President, accompanied by multiple ministers, can be said to have reached the top configuration.

In a sense, Maduro's trip may be seen as a "combination visit".

Just a few days before Maduro's visit, Venezuelan Vice President Rodriguez had led a high-level delegation to China, including the Minister of Oil and the Minister of Science and Technology, and attended the 17th meeting of the China Venezuela High Level Mixed Committee.

This vanguard unit visited Beijing and Shanghai, held talks with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and reached consensus on a series of cooperation.

From the Vice President to the President, a series of high-level visits to China have been regarded as one of the highest level visits by Chinese officials in many years.

Once again, the itinerary is fulfilling. Maduro chose to visit multiple cities including Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing. In addition to meeting with Chinese officials, there are also other rich activities.

"This is a major action for Venezuela to expand its foreign relations after the end of the COVID-19. From the characteristics of long time, high level, large scale, and many contents, we can see that both China and Venezuela attach great importance to this visit." said Wang Youming, director of the Institute for Developing Countries of the Chinese Academy of International Studies.

According to the Global Times, Maduro described his visit to China as seeking to strengthen bilateral cooperation, build a new global geopolitics, and bring good news to the Venezuelan people.

Wang Youming stated that in the "post pandemic era", Venezuela regards pursuing economic and social development as a top priority, seeking all-round cooperation with China, deepening relations in various fields such as politics, economy, society, and culture, and promoting bilateral relations to a new level.

"Especially in terms of economy, by strengthening cooperation with China, breaking the country's high dependence on energy as a single economic structure, promoting economic structural transformation, and shifting towards diversification, we can help China overcome economic difficulties."

Maduro also hopes to strengthen coordination with China in international and regional affairs, as well as global governance, including joining the BRICS cooperation mechanism.

"In Maduro's eyes, the 'BRICS' represents the correct direction of the future international order and is another choice and replacement for the current unjust and unreasonable order. Therefore, he wants to knock on the door of the' BRICS'. China also explicitly welcomes like-minded friends and countries to join the 'BRICS' family." Wang Youming said.

Niu Haibin, director of the Foreign Policy Research Institute of the Shanghai Institute of International Studies, believes that Maduro's visit to China comes at a time when Venezuela is facing a new political and economic situation.

At the political level, Venezuela's importance in the Latin American region is recovering and increasing. In recent years, Latin American countries such as Brazil and Colombia have shown a friendly attitude towards the Maduro government. For example, Brazilian President Lula previously invited Maduro to visit Brazil and attend the South American Leaders Summit.

As the Ukrainian crisis continues, the Biden administration in the United States has also adjusted its policy towards Ukraine to isolate Latin American countries and suppress Russia, mainly by gradually restoring oil cooperation to a limited extent.

Venezuela will welcome a general election next year. Currently, domestic political reconciliation is advancing and relations with the opposition have eased. Maduro hopes to conduct an important international visit before the start of the election season.

On the economic front, Venezuela is at a critical juncture in domestic construction and development.

The Maduro government has introduced relevant laws and constructed some special economic zones to improve the business environment and boost the confidence of external investors. Attracting Chinese companies to invest in Venezuela is the core appeal of Maduro's visit.

The meaning of choosing the first station

Maduro's emphasis on the economy is also reflected in his itinerary. For example, this visit will make Shenzhen the first stop, which is quite eye-catching.

In Niu Haibin's view, it is rare to see Shenzhen as the first stop of a state visit to China, indicating that Maduro is a politician with international vision. "He noticed other Latin American countries' new ideas and strategic choices in developing relations with China, namely increasing their emphasis on economic agendas beyond politics and strategy, and linking their own development prospects more with China," said Niu Haibin.

Niu Haibin further explained that Maduro also hopes to enhance the country's industrial level, sustainable development capabilities, and achieve economic diversification through his visit to Shenzhen, which shares similar demands with the previous Brazilian and Honduras presidents who visited China. Especially in the high-tech field, seeking space and opportunities for cooperation.

Wang Youming stated that various sectors of Venezuelan politics and business are very fascinated by China's economic miracle achieved in just a few decades and hope to learn from China. The first visit to Shenzhen shows that Maduro is eager to learn from the development experience of China's reform and opening up and the successful way of Chinese path to modernization, especially the successful experience of the construction of special economic zones.

Dual wheel drive of economic and trade cooperation

Regarding the issue, the Venezuelan Presidential Office previously stated in a statement that Maduro's visit will discuss "strategic partnerships in economic, technological, and trade affairs.".

"Both sides will focus on cooperation in areas such as economy, energy, and finance," said Wang Youming.

On the one hand, we will continue to deepen cooperation in traditional fields such as oil and manufacturing.

On the other hand, expanding cooperation in new economic formats, including energy transformation, green economy, digital economy, high-tech, and so on.

In recent years, the economic and trade cooperation between China and Venezuela has been fruitful, with smooth progress in mutually beneficial cooperation in areas such as energy, agriculture, infrastructure, and high technology. In September 2018, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly build the "the Belt and Road". In the first half of 2023, the bilateral trade in goods reached 1.94 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 17.0%.

"China Venezuela economic and trade cooperation has expanded from traditional fields to emerging fields, forming a dual driven pattern."

In Niu Haibin's view, the most concerned area is cooperation in the energy sector.

The energy cooperation between China and Venezuela has a practical foundation. The proven oil reserves of Venezuela rank first in the world, and energy occupies a dominant position in the country's economic and industrial structure. So energy cooperation is the most crucial area for unleashing the growth potential of the commission. However, the energy industry in Venezuela is facing some restrictions and challenges, including US sanctions, high levels of nationalization, and reduced production capacity.

"In this context, the focus of this visit will be on how both parties can find more optimized ways of cooperation, including using local currency settlement, arranging foreign investment entry methods, and so on."

Niu Haibin also stated that cooperation in the space field, such as satellites, will be a new growth point that can promote mutual benefit and win-win outcomes for both sides.

For the commission, it will be easier to obtain satellite data and better monitor and protect the country's natural environment.

For China, it is possible to further explore international cooperation in the field of space exploration.

Previously, during the visit of the Vice President of the Communist Party of China, multiple agreements in the fields of economy, science, technology, etc. had been signed. This includes a memorandum of understanding to promote broader cooperation between the two countries in processing and analyzing various satellite images.

In July of this year, the space agencies of the two countries also signed a joint statement, stating that Venezuela will join the International Lunar Research Station program. Venezuela thus became the first Latin American country to join the project.

In addition, the Venezuelan side also hopes to attract Chinese investment in tourism, manufacturing, infrastructure and other fields to promote the process of economic diversification.

When it comes to the results of the visit, Wang Youming expressed that it is worth looking forward to. Both parties are expected to sign a series of cooperation documents, covering various aspects such as politics, economy, finance, technology, and culture. Of particular concern is that this visit will expand the scale of bilateral currency settlement and exchange, and enhance the use of local currencies in trade fields such as oil.

The gold content will continue to increase

After finishing his trip to Shenzhen, Maduro came to Shanghai and continued his trip to China, believing that his subsequent itinerary would be even more exciting.

Both China and Venezuela expressed high expectations for Maduro's visit to China.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it is willing to take this visit as an opportunity to draw a blueprint for the development of China Venezuela relations in the new era and promote the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries to a new level.

Venezuelan Vice President Rodriguez said that this visit to China marks a new milestone in cooperation between the two countries.

Niu Haibin believes that this visit will bring significant significance to both countries and even the world.

Firstly, further confirming the importance of bilateral relations strategically will maintain a high level of political interaction and strategic coordination between the two sides.

Secondly, it is conducive to better promoting pragmatic cooperation between the two countries, especially in promoting the economic development of Venezuela.

Thirdly, in promoting the construction of a fair and just international order and opposing hegemonism and unilateralism, both sides will share a common voice.

Wang Youming believes that this visit will comprehensively strengthen the "iron rod" friendship between China and Venezuela.

At present, the relationship between China and Venezuela is a model of South South cooperation, which is manifested in several aspects: withstanding the test of time and international changes, establishing a "steadfast" friendship; The two countries have a high level of political mutual trust and provide firm support to each other in areas related to their core interests; The cooperation between the two sides is practical and beneficial to their respective economic and social development, benefiting the people's livelihoods of both countries; In terms of international affairs, both countries adhere to maintaining the international system centered on the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and the international order based on international law.

"Based on these solid foundations, after this visit, we believe that China Venezuela relations will be comprehensively consolidated, and the level of cooperation between the two countries in bilateral, regional, and international affairs will also be elevated to a new stage. With the passage of time, the value and level of cooperation between the two countries' relations will continue to rise."

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