What’s new: President Xi Jinping and Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro announced they would elevate the two countries’ diplomatic ties to an “all-weather strategic partnership” during Maduro’s state visit to China that was set to end Thursday.
The upgrade will be a step up from their current status of comprehensive strategic partnership. The two countries want to “expand practical cooperation in various fields and strengthen strategic cooperation in international affairs,” according to a joint statement released by China’s foreign ministry on Thursday.
China is willing to increase imports of Venezuela’s “high-quality specialty products” and will help the country establish special economic zones, Xi said in a separate foreign ministry statement.
Maduro called the two nations’ ties “a model for relations between countries of the Global South” and expressed hope to further cooperate with China on agriculture, investment, education and tourism, according to the foreign ministry.
Following Maduro’s weeklong visit, the two sides signed a series of cooperation agreements in areas including trade, health, aviation and the Belt and Road Initiative.
The background: China and Venezuela first established diplomatic relations in 1974. A strategic partnership was formed in 2001, which was elevated in 2014 when Xi paid a state visit to Venezuela.
China established an “all-weather strategic cooperative partnership” with Pakistan in 2015 and an “all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership” with Belarus in September 2022. The term “all-weather” signifies close relations in international affairs “regardless of changes in time or global landscape,” a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences researcher told state-run media in 2015.
Contact reporter Kelly Wang (jingzhewang@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)
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