In late September, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez visited China as his second stop on a multi-continent diplomatic mission. Cuba was his first stop, followed by China, Russia, Belarus, France and finally Portugal. During his brief time in Beijing, Chávez met with several high ranking Chinese officials, including President Hu Jintao. The two countries signed several mutual cooperation agreements involving education, sports, trade, telecommunications, and most importantly, oil.
The Oil Deals
President Chávez has repeatedly asserted that he envisions China as an important global oil consumer. Some of the agreements reached by Caracas and Beijing will boost Venezuela's oil exports to China. By expanding China's share of Venezuela's oil consumption, the South American country could decrease its heavy dependence on the U.S. market, which has been the largest consumer of Venezuelan oil. According to the Venezuelan media, the two countries will cooperate to build four tankers and at least two refineries. The first refinery will be located in the oil-rich Orinoco Belt in Venezuela and the other in China's coastal province of Guangdong. Venezuela's state-run oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) will be responsible for shipping the oil to its Asian counterpart. Additionally, the two nations will double the amount of capital invested in existing development projects jointly undertaken by Beijing and Caracas beginning a few years ago, from $6 billion to $12 billion. China will contribute two-thirds of the funds, with an allotted amount going toward increasing Venezuelan oil exports, according to Chávez. The South American leader's goal is to further diversify Caracas' petroleum client base through reaching an output of 500 thousand barrels of crude per day (bpd) to China by 2009 and to double that figure by 2012. Ultimately, the Venezuelan president optimistically hopes to become the top oil supplier to China.
Same Summit, Different Attitudes
President Chávez does not hide his intentions to strengthen a political alliance expand upon economic ties with China, which are already quite strong. China is about to launch the first Venezuelan satellite, the Simón Bolivar, on November 1, 2008. Moreover, the Southern American country leader has tried to link the two geographically remote countries together through a shared ideology; he has claimed that he is a "Maoist." During a trip to China in 2004, Chávez said that if Simón Bolivar and Mao Zedong had met, they would have been good friends for they upheld the same humanitarian ideals. Regardless of Chávez's grandiose statements, Beijing has remained cautiously careful regarding its relationship with the Venezuelan leader. When asked about Chávez's visit to China in a press conference staged by the foreign ministry in Beijing, the spokesperson Jiang Yu answered that bilateral ties between China and Venezuela were "normal state-to-state" relations.
Rhetoric aside, Venezuela also revealed more to the press about the detailed strategy on which the two countries will cooperate in the energy sector. For example, President Chávez disclosed the plan regarding the joint construction of four oil tankers as well as the expansion of a joint investment fund. On the other hand, China's official news agency, Xinhua, has used vague language to describe China-Venezuela relations. The oil cooperation between the two countries regarding oil refinery and transportation is collaborative in every aspect. Since the Venezuela-China agreement only represents four percent of Chinese imported oil, other countries' trade relationships with Venezuela will not be adversely affected, Beijing clarified.
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