Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing cannot accept any country acting as the “world’s judge” after the United States captured Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro.
The world’s second-largest economy has provided Venezuela with an economic lifeline since the U.S. and its allies ramped up sanctions in 2017, purchasing roughly $1.6 billion worth of goods in 2024, the most recent full-year data available.
Almost half of China’s purchases were crude oil, customs data shows, while its state-owned oil giants had invested around $4.6 billion in Venezuela by 2018, according to data from the American Enterprise Institute think tank, which tracks Chinese overseas corporate investment.
Sanction them then?
“cannot accept” = asking them nicely to stop. It’s a nothing burger
Diplomats do not speak the same language as you and I sitting around sipping beer and bullshitting. In diplomatic terms that means, “We’re pissed off, though we’re not taking immediate action. Keep going, FAFO.”
No, this amounts to “Please stop you’re dismantling our client state, we can’t actually stop you though.”