China seeks assurances over loans to Venezuela after Maduro's capture

By Alex Wickham

 

Chinese officials have sought talks with Venezuelan and US officials to get assurances over its loans to the South American country, according to people familiar with the matter. 

The outreach is part of a flurry of activity by the Chinese government and banks to secure their economic and lending interests in the wake of the capture of Venezuela’s president by US forces, one of the people said. Since Nicolás Maduro was flown out of Caracas, the Trump administration has sought to bring Venezuela closer to its orbit.

 

How much Venezuela still owes Chinese entities is unclear, since Caracas stopped publishing detailed debt data after its 2017 default. Estimates range widely, with analysts putting outstanding obligations anywhere from $10 billion to $20 billion. China is expected to insist on a seat at the table in any future debt restructuring involving Venezuela.

 

 

“The cooperation between China and Venezuela is the cooperation between two sovereign states, which is under protection of international law and the domestic laws of the two countries,” said Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the US, in an email. “China will take all necessary measures to protect its legitimate rights and interests in Venezuela.”

 

He reiterated China’s stance that the US intervention was a violation of Venezuela’s sovereignty, and said China and Venezuela would continue to work in areas of mutual interest regardless of the political situation.

 

China’s economic role in Venezuela is largely a legacy of ties built under the late Hugo Chávez. Much of the cooperation that defined the relationship in the 2000s and early 2010s has stalled or faded as Venezuela’s economy collapsed and oil output deteriorated. 

 

While state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. holds stakes in three joint ventures producing heavy crude in the Orinoco Belt and one in Zulia state, production is limited and uneven. Sinopec operates an offshore gas field in the eastern part of the country and runs blending processing facilities.

 

China’s footprint was rooted in a loans-for-oil model launched in 2007 that made Beijing Venezuela’s largest creditor. China provided more than $60 billion in oil-backed development loans through state banks, securing repayment via crude shipments at fixed prices. The Asian country embedded debt obligations into bilateral trade even as new lending largely ceased.

 

Securing energy supplies from Venezuela is a lesser concern for China than reclaiming the debt. Although China bought about 80 per cent of Venezuelan crude exports in 2025, those shipments accounted for roughly 4 per cent of China’s total oil imports, or about 389,000 barrels a day. Those volumes could be replaced elsewhere while a broader return of Venezuelan supply could ease global prices, according to business advisory firm Teneo.

 

China’s engagement in Venezuela beyond energy is narrower than often portrayed. Venezuelan purchases from China have focused mainly on public-order and surveillance equipment, including riot-control gear, drones, radar systems and signal-jamming technology, rather than advanced military hardware. 

 

China has also helped build satellite ground stations in Venezuela, though analysts note that the country’s limited technical capacity constrains their operational significance, according to a Jan. 13 report from the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.