Beijing.- China expressed its “serious concern” over the capture of Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, by the United States, requested their “immediate release” and demanded that the crisis be resolved through “dialogue and negotiation”, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Asian country.
Beijing expressed its “grave concern” that Washington “forcibly seized” the leader and his wife and moved them out of the country.
According to the spokesperson of the
Chinese Foreign Ministry, the actions of the United States “clearly violate international law and the basic norms governing international relations” and contravene “the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter.”
The statement, published on the ministry’s website, added that these actions undermine Venezuelan sovereignty.
In that context, China urged Washington to “guarantee the personal safety” of Maduro and Flores, to “release them immediately”, to “stop undermining the Venezuelan Government” and to “resolve the issue through dialogue and negotiation”, without announcing additional measures.
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The message is known after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured in Caracas and transferred to the United States, where the Venezuelan president spent his first night in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
Delcy assumes interim presidency in Venezuela
Meanwhile, in Caracas, the vice president,
Delcy Rodríguez, assumed the interim head of the Executive by order of the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela.
China maintains a close diplomatic and economic relationship with Venezuela, strengthened during the terms of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Maduro, and has repeatedly defended the principles of state sovereignty and non-interference in international forums.
In the last few hours, Beijing had issued a consular warning advising its citizens against traveling to Venezuela due to the deterioration of security, without then entering into political assessments of the US operation.
