As political tension in Venezuela continue to rise, the rising star of the country's opposition Juan Guaido recently appealed to the international community to drop their support to the current president Nicolas Maduro. One key country that Guaido pleaded to drop its support to the current president is China.
Mr. Guaido asked China to drop its support to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro citing that his regime spells bad omen for business. He added that a number of major countries have already shown support to his cause and pleaded that the Asian superpower should do the same.
Mr. Guaido's recent statement comes just days after China issued a statement saying that the country will continue to work with Venezuela "no matter how the situation evolves." While China's statement may come as a little ambiguous, some political analysts have noted that the country might be steering towards the opposition now that Mr. Maduro's regime is starting to see its cracks.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Mr. Guaido said that China will play an important role in helping rebuild Venezuela which has experienced some of the worst economic ruins in recent history. Mr. Guaido also cited that China, during the regimes of Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro, is Venezuela's biggest foreign creditor.
Following several months of unrest in Venezuela, Mr. Guaido declared himself as the country's legitimate interim president in January. While seen as an unprecedented development, Mr. Guaido's rise to power was ultimately backed by the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and a number of key European countries.
In a statement, Mr. Guaido said, "Maduro is increasingly isolated and is largely acting alone. Calling China for support, he added that China is "a fundamental global player with whom we would like to relaunch our relationship."
The comments of Mr. Guaido came in after China's foreign ministry slowly steered its stance towards the opposition party. The Asian superpower also hinted that its support with the regime of Mr. Maduro may not be everlasting.
