Published: 12:02am, 19 Sep 2025Updated: 1:23am, 19 Sep 2025
Venezuela’s foreign minister said Wednesday that China pledged support for Caracas’ efforts to preserve peace in the Caribbean, quoting Ambassador Lan Hu as saying Beijing stood “in solidarity” as Washington pressed ahead with military strikes on boats it claimed were carrying drugs.
Advertisement
Foreign Minister Yvan Gil met with Lan in Caracas and described the message from Beijing as a significant gesture at a time when the United States had deployed warships and launched two deadly operations in less than a month.
Gil stressed that President Nicolas Maduro was committed to regional unity and to what he called an “authentic battle” against narcotics trafficking, but accused Washington of using military power for political ends.
The Chinese pledge came as Washington carried out a second strike near the Venezuelan coast, announced on Monday by US President Donald Trump. He stated that US forces had targeted a vessel in international waters carrying cocaine and fentanyl bound for the United States.
Three people on board were killed – and video footage, according to Trump, showed “big bags of cocaine and fentanyl” floating in the sea.
That strike followed an operation earlier this month that killed 11 people on a speedboat the US linked to Venezuelan cartels. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed the US would “track them, kill them, and dismantle their networks throughout our hemisphere”, adding that he did not rule out extending operations to land.