China social media hails Trump’s Maduro move as Taiwan template

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump’s capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro sparked widespread discussion on Chinese social media, with some users saying the operation offered a template for how Beijing could handle tensions with Taiwan.

Mr Trump’s operation against the Venezuelan strongman shot to the top of China’s Weibo late on Jan 3, with the topic gaining some 440 million views on the X-like platform. Many commentators were quick to make comparisons between the fate of the South American nation and that of the self-ruled democracy Beijing has vowed to claim.

“I suggest using the same method to reclaim Taiwan in the future,” one user said in reply to a post with more than 700 likes.

“Since the US doesn’t take international law seriously, why should we care about it?” said another user.

“The US imperialists’ lightning raid on Venezuela to capture Maduro and his wife provides a perfect blueprint for our military to launch a surprise attack on Frog Island and seize Lai Ching-te,” wrote one person, using a derogatory term to refer to Taiwan. Mr Lai is Taiwan’s president. 

China’s Foreign Ministry urged the US to release Mr Maduro and his wife and to ensure their safety. The raid on Venezuela clearly violates international law and the basic norms governing international relations, as well as the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, it said in a statement.

Earlier, the ministry condemned Mr Trump’s strike, saying it was “deeply shocked” by the “blatant use of force against a sovereign state.”

Taiwan is “closely monitoring” Venezuela’s situation, its Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that it would work with the US and other democratic nations “to jointly contribute to regional and global security, stability and prosperity.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping has

stepped up military pressure around Taiwan

, most recently by conducting live-fire drills around the island – exercises that Mr Trump downplayed.

Beijing has refrained from using violence, however, preferring coercion tactics coupled with a diplomatic drive to isolate Taipei on the world stage.

The outpouring of nationalist sentiment in China does not mean Mr Xi will change that strategy towards Taiwan, one of the biggest flashpoints between the world’s largest economies. But

Mr Trump’s strike could give Beijing space

to ramp up military aggression in its own backyard.

“I don’t expect today’s events in Venezuela will dramatically shift Beijing’s calculus on Taiwan,” Mr Ryan Hass, a former US diplomat and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, wrote on X. “Beijing hasn’t refrained from kinetic or other actions on Taiwan out of deference to international law and norms.”  

“Privately, I expect Beijing will emphasise to Washington that it expects to be given the same latitude for great power exemptions to international law that the US takes for itself,” he added, citing China’s operations in the South China Sea, where it has territorial disputes with US allies and other regional neighbours. 

For decades, the US – Taiwan’s top weapons supplier – has been a restraining force on Chinese aggression, with the risk of sanctions and American military action looming over any invasion. The Chinese Communist Party leader also has to weigh domestic sentiment, military readiness and economic implications.

Mr Trump’s actions hand Mr Xi another opportunity to portray China as a custodian of the international rules-based order that the US helped to create, but is now increasingly veering away from. 

“What the US has done has completely ignored the constraints of international law, which has brought the world back to the colonial era of barbaric plunder,” Xinhua News Agency said in a commentary on Jan 4.

“The subsequent statement of the President of the United States completely tore off the hypocritical mask of the so-called ‘fighting drug terrorism’ and exposed the true face of resource imperialism.”

Hours before his capture, a high-level Chinese delegation met in Caracas with Mr Maduro, who shared images of the group shaking hands on his Instagram page.

It is unclear whether the diplomats, including Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Latin American Affairs Qiu Xiaoqi, were in the country during the attack.

China is well-positioned to engage with those currently holding the reins in Venezuela, said Ms Margaret Myers, senior adviser of the Asia and Latin America Program at the Inter-American Dialogue.

“Beijing has consistently pursued engagement with all viable political actors, regardless of ideology, and is likely to maintain what presence it can over the long term in light of its substantial investments and Venezuela’s strategic importance,” she added.

China had warmed ties with Venezuela in recent years, offering Mr Maduro a powerful ally and opportunity for oil sales. Venezuela has the largest known reserves in the world, but is subject to international sanctions. China is the country’s biggest customer for oil exports, which represent about 95 per cent of Venezuela’s revenue.

The Trump administration stepped up a pressure campaign against that trade in recent days, sanctioning companies based in Hong Kong and mainland China, along with related oil tankers it accused of evading restrictions. 

Mr Trump’s operation to oust strongman Mr Maduro follows a

months-long campaign of air strikes on boats

purportedly carrying illegal drugs.

Great power politics

To Mr Xi, Mr Trump’s actions could be viewed as consistent with great powers intervening in neighbouring countries in the name of national security, said Mr Lyle Morris, a senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, noting this was how Beijing perceived Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “A potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan could fall into the same bucket,” he added. 

“I don’t think it’s hyperbole to speculate that this opens the window for Xi to contemplate military action towards Taiwan, especially if the global response to the US action is muted,” said Mr Morris.

Others were sceptical Beijing has the military know-how for such an operation.

The US strike was the result of months of intelligence work and carried out by more than 150 aircraft, Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Caine said at a Jan 3 briefing. A helicopter force approached Mr Maduro’s compound shortly after 2am in Caracas, before taking fire, he added. Mr Maduro and his wife then “gave up,” Gen Caine said.

US forces involved likely had extensive experience operating in hostile environments, according to Mr Drew Thompson, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. 

“I don’t think the PLA has any experience like that,” he said, referring to the People’s Liberation Army. “Beijing has other options for neutralising Taiwan’s leader,” he added, claiming China would have a higher chance of success with assassinations. BLOOMBERG