The position was stated by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during a meeting with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Ishaq Dar, in Beijing on Sunday, as he referred to what he described as “sudden developments in Venezuela.”
The Chinese government has said that it will never accept any country positioning itself as the “world’s judge” following the detention of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by the United States.
The position was stated by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during a meeting with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Ishaq Dar, in Beijing on Sunday, as he referred to what he described as “sudden developments in Venezuela.”
Without directly mentioning the United States, Wang said, “We have never believed that any country can act as the world's police, nor do we accept that any nation can claim to be the world's judge.”
“The sovereignty and security of all countries should be fully protected under international law,” he said in his first public remarks since images of the 63-year-old Maduro blindfolded and handcuffed circulated on Saturday, according to Reuters.
Maduro is currently being held at a detention centre in New York and is awaiting a court appearance on Monday on drug charges.
China has ambitions to become a diplomatic heavyweight, a goal it articulated most clearly after brokering a surprise rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran in 2023, pledging to “play a constructive role in global hotspot issues.”
Analysts say Beijing’s experience confronting the United States in trade negotiations has reinforced its confidence.
However, US President Donald Trump’s assertion that Washington will oversee Venezuela’s government for the time being poses a test to the “all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership” China and Venezuela agreed in 2023, marking nearly 50 years of diplomatic relations.
“It was a big blow to China, we wanted to look like a dependable friend to Venezuela,” said a Chinese government official briefed on a meeting between Maduro and China’s special representative for Latin American and Caribbean affairs, Qiu Xiaoqi, held hours before his capture.
The official said Maduro’s son visited China’s top-ranking Peking University in 2024, where he enrolled in 2016, adding that it was unclear whether he would return despite years of diplomatic engagement with Caracas centred on his education.
China, the world’s second-largest economy, has provided Venezuela with an economic lifeline since the United States 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 those purchases were crude oil, while China’s state-owned oil companies 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.