2016-06-21

China Plans for Post-Socialist Venezuela

Caixin: China Seeks Assurances Against Possible Debt Default by Venezuela
China had waived 25.6 billion yuan in loans to 50 countries as at the end of 2009, a government white paper on foreign aid published in 2011 showed. Many of them were low-income countries in Africa including Tanzania and Sudan – two of China's closest allies in the continent – and others were in Latin America and Asia.

However, Chinese authorities are trying to avoid another debt write-off in the case of its traditional ally, Venezuela.

A Chinese envoy has met with Venezuela's opposition to gain assurances that the country would honor its debt obligations in the event that President Nicolas Maduro's term is cut short through a recall referendum, international media reports said.
Venezuela's chaos is the majority's own making, since they voted for full socialism, but China has provided support at key moments. Without Chinese support, it's likely the regime would have fallen already, well before it reached this point.
Beijing had cut deals with Caracas even earlier to prevent Maduro's regime from wobbling under pressure to repay. China agreed to take oil supplies as payment for a US$4 billion debt that matured in February last year, after the Chinese foreign ministry said in January 2015 that China understood the suffering in Venezuela caused by a sharp fall in global oil prices.

..."Even if the opposition comes to power, the giant ship of Sino-Venezuela cooperation will not capsize as some might believe because its build on a solid foundation," the article said.
It would be relatively easy, politically, to tie the debt to China and the old regime, and write it all off.

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