Maduro met Chinese envoy hours before US capture from Caracas as Beijing slams operation

Venezuelan Political Crisis

Maduro met Chinese envoy hours before US capture from Caracas as Beijing slams operation

China condemned the US action

Morgan Phillips Fox News

Published

January 3, 2026 11:00am EST

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Maduro meets Chinese envoy hours before capture

Nicolas Maduro received a Chinese government representative at the presidential palace in Caracas on Friday, hours before his capture by the U.S. (Anadolu Agency via Reuters)

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Just hours before his capture by the U.S., Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro met with a Chinese envoy, highlighting the great power competition between Washington and Beijing in the Western Hemisphere.

Maduro received Qiu Xiaoqi, the Chinese government’s special representative for Latin American affairs, at the Miraflores Presidential Palace on Friday — reaffirming Caracas’ strategic ties with Beijing and pledging to build what he called a "multipolar world of development and peace.

Hours later, President Donald Trump announced that U.S. forces had struck targets across Venezuela and taken Maduro and his wife into custody, flying them out of the country as part of a dramatic escalation of pressure on the embattled leader.

The U.S. operation appears to mark the most direct U.S. military action against a sitting head of state in Latin America since Panama in 1989, with Trump’s administration framing the capture as the culmination of months of allegations that Maduro trafficked drugs into the United States and ruled illegitimately.

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro received a Chinese government representative, Qiu Xiaoqi, at the presidential palace in Caracas on Friday, hours before Maduro was captured by the U.S. (Anadolu Agency via Reuters)

China, meanwhile, said it was "deeply shocked" by the U.S. action.

"China is deeply shocked and strongly condemns the U.S.'s blatant use of force against a sovereign state and its action against its president," Beijing's foreign ministry said in a statement.

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"Such hegemonic behavior by the U.S. seriously violates international law, infringes upon Venezuela's sovereignty, and threatens peace and security in Latin America and the Caribbean. China firmly opposes it," it added.

FILE - In this Sept 18, 2016, file photo, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro gestures as he arrives for a press conference after closing ceremony of the 17th Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Porlamar, on Venezuela's Margarita Island. Venezuelan election officials have quashed on Wednesday, Sept. 21, the opposition's hope of holding a recall referendum that could wrest the presidency from Maduro. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)

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China has provided billions of dollars in financing and energy investment to expand its influence throughout Latin America through its Belt and Road Initiative and is Caracas’ largest crude oil importer.

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The Trump administration has openly rejected that trajectory. Senior officials have said the U.S. intends to reassert the Monroe Doctrine, a long-standing policy opposing foreign powers establishing strategic footholds in the Americas, particularly authoritarian rivals such as China.

Venezuela has been a focal point of that competition. U.S. officials have accused Beijing, along with Russia and Iran, of propping up Maduro’s government as it faced international isolation, economic collapse and widespread allegations of corruption and narcotrafficking.

Maduro met Chinese envoy hours before US capture from Caracas as Beijing slams operation