How China Played a Role in the Collapse of Venezuela

by J.G. Martinez D

China has slowly expanded its influence since the 1990s, causing them to now be one of the leading world powers. Officially, the reason for this expanded global, Chinese influence is their uninterested economic cooperation with other countries, or their willingness to support the development of undeveloped nations. You can believe that if you want.

In reality, a large part of China’s growth is because enemies of the West needed to balance the counterweight of NATO surrounding them. NATO moved and then NATO enemies would respond in kind. Moves and countermoves. These enemies are now well-positioned and working at almost 100%, thanks to incredibly lax Western policies that resulted in their gaining strength.

This preamble is meaningful because the chaos you see around you is not a result of bad government policy. It is a result of purposeful action to generate chaos. The pain you feel now is by design.

Let’s look at the facts and see what conclusions we can draw.

The Chinese have had significant investments in Venezuela for many years now. Our textile and shoe industry was massive in the 1980s. Then the Chinese stepped in and tore those industries apart with their low prices, completely capturing both markets. They recently tried to do the same with our oil industry, but the results have been less than desirable.

In 2001, the cooperation between Venezuela and China was kicked up a notch thanks to Uncle Hugo’s “Strategic Development Partnership.” $50 billion in loans rolled in just six years later. But despite this, one thing is for sure: the Chinese are not transparent with us, and they are not market friendly. They have other plans in mind. Why else would they be involved in Venezuelan energy policy and our defense and security sectors?

So, did China play a role in Venezuela’s collapse?

Dang sure, they played a role. They are still playing a role, and a very meaningful one: they are almost the last friendly country still supporting those in power.

The Chinese government was crucial for the “success” of our food rationing throughout the collapse. How? By providing the tech necessary for nationwide surveillance and control with their social-credit card.

People without the card were unable to get subsidized food, leaving a part of the population categorized as second-class citizens. The need for money here is a desperate situation.

But the thing is, whatever loans come in fall down that black hole and are lost forever. The Chinese seem to have noticed that any money that uses commodities as a backup is a double-edged sword here.

None of this loan money has worked to improve the general situation nor to lift any sort of oil production at all. Technicians and engineers have left the country, and the few foreign companies remaining just don’t have the muscle yet to accomplish the task of boosting oil production to sustainable levels.

(Want to know how to starve the beast? Check out our free QUICKSTART Guide.)

How do these loans further degrade Venezuelan sovereignty?

In case someone doesn’t understand the magnitude of such a role (at least at the beginning of the Hugo era), this article will give you a proper picture: When Investment Hurts: Chinese Influence in Venezuela. 

To summarize the article, in the middle of one of the most severe food and medical crises in our history, those in power decided to spend massive amounts of money on weapons and security-related supplies instead. The crisis generated extensive demonstrations that led to over 163 deaths and over 2K injured. Some of these people are permanently disabled. As you can confirm in the article, the involvement of that country is profound and should be a point of interest regarding the security of the entire Western Hemisphere.  

China’s influence over Venezuela is much stronger than what the world would be willing to accept if they would only look.

Their involvement in our country is not accepted by a majority of Venezuelans. Yet the Chinese insist on the public acknowledging their legitimacy and even support them to a degree.

This support, however, seems to be decreasing fast, thanks to the incredible disappearance of the loan money. The Chinese are aware of this, and are working hard to clean up their image.

China supported our “group in power” (a group because they do not represent Venezuela entirely) to achieve a seat on the Human Rights Commission of the UN. Now, those in the “group” are under investigation by this very same Commission! I wonder what would happen to those who made such an unfortunate proposal.

As evidence of those once warm relationships between China and Venezuela having become chilling, watch the car plants’ production: 8 vehicles assembled in 2021. (Press note in Spanish)

Despite the fact that all of China’s stakes in Venezuela are high, the effects of maintaining a toxic relationship may just be more trouble for them than it’s worth.

Yes, their influence here is important, but not for Venezuelans. It’s important for that “group.” They need Chinese support much more than anybody else does. And this relationship will have long-term effects on a number of aspects of Venezuela that are not going to be confined to our borders. All of South America is at risk.

Let’s see the main areas where these relationships are under development:

Energy

Cooperation between our countries outwardly seemed fine until 2017. That was when the Chinese national oil company SINOPEC sued PDVSA, our national oil industry. Since then, a lot of water has passed under the bridge, and things are now at some sort of a halt with sporadic returns.

Hot air balloons come and go trying to deceive the public opinion. It’s no matter. The public already knows who is who in Venezuela. The sanctions made CNPC (Chinese oil Company) leave the oilfields in a hurry. With our country being one of the main US suppliers (a role that Russia occupied when our production declined until almost the extinction) and with a huge reserve of commodities, it was logical that the Chinese government would try to take over and do as they please.

Nevertheless, their cold reception among the energy industry workers has been meaningful. The difficulties to lift production are plenty, and the needed muscle and knowledge are just not there. Among many other issues, Chinese oil workers are either not aware of the safety precautions we follow or they just don’t care. This, of course, generates conflict with Venezuelan platform supervisors. Chinese oil worker salaries are much better in many cases than the ones they offer to Venezuelan workers as well, and this generates plenty of stress. In our country, the oil jobs were well-paid until the commies arrived. Now, we fight for scraps.

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Defense/Security

In 2013 China was our main provider of weaponry. In the following years, they would blatantly ignore the worldwide request to cease exporting tear gas and other materials that were being used to repress the demonstrations. The acquisition of equipment like mobile air-defense radar systems, a command-and-control center, a contract for technical support, aircraft and training, and access to a satellite communications network has been in place since 2008.

In light of the recent events in Ukraine, China has looked to the other side as our “group” has tried to avoid any showcasing of their relationship with Asia. Thus, this cooperation is much weaker than what the general public is aware of. This is not 2010 anymore, and the one that declared himself as a Mao Follower and ideologically motivated is no longer in the land of the living.  

Hugo

Industrial development

So far, there is not any industry feeling the positive impact of the massive loans. The supposed investments in the aluminum sector are nowhere to be found, as this area is utterly paralyzed. The steel industry? Kaput. Cars? There is no evidence of Chinese cars assembled. (Nor French, Italian, or German. Or Japanese.) Consumer electronics (phones) and white line goods production, as far as this writer has researched, were at zero already, even before the SarsCov2 hit.

When researching this aspect of our economy, official websites are not to be trusted. They will register as local production imported rice packaged in local facilities.

Agriculture

After learning that my people were almost on the verge of famine in the years after these projects were “successful,” this would seriously undermine the credibility of any statement made. Our food production capabilities never increased. This document or this one will show the traits of two projects as an example. Such projects were funded by the PCR (Popular Republic of China). IFAD is an organization (a Fund) for Agricultural Development under the UN wing.

To summarize, the total investments of China in Venezuela are close to $67 Billion.

It seems that it was a bad investment, especially for the Chinese image, which was poorly stained thanks to the nonexistent benefits of the development projects.

Of course, we all know that if the money goes to the proper destination with the intended purpose and strict monitoring, the results surely would be outstanding. Now we have to pay  a debt with commodities that an incredibly complex network of thieves established to suck us dry for their own benefit. That is the thing with China and Russia to a lesser degree. They know that if regime change occurs, this illegal debt very likely won’t be paid.

Further reading:

A dream deal with China that ended in nightmarish debt for Venezuela

Venezuela, a revolving door for Chinese interests in Latin America 

Stay sharp, keep tuned, and be safe!

What do you think?

Does this sound all too familiar? Do you think China is using the same strategy in the US? Share your thoughts in the comments.

About Jose

Jose is an upper middle class professional. He is a former worker of the oil state company with a Bachelor’s degree from one of the best national Universities. He has an old but in good shape SUV, a good 150 square meters house in a nice neighborhood, in a small but (formerly) prosperous city with two middle size malls. Jose is a prepper and shares his eyewitness accounts and survival stories from the collapse of his beloved Venezuela. Jose and his younger kid are currently back in Venezuela, after the intention of setting up a new life in another country didn’t  go well. The SARSCOV2 re-shaped the labor market and South American economy so he decided to give it a try to homestead in the mountains, and make a living as best as possible. But this time in his own land, and surrounded by family, friends and acquaintances, with all the gear and equipment collected, as the initial plan was.

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