China welcomed Venezuela’s interest in joining the BRICS and said it supports the country in achieving this goal.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro met with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, and reiterated his interest in joining the BRICS.
“As a reliable energy supplier and the country with the largest oil reserves and the fourth largest natural gas reserves in the world, Venezuela can make important contributions to the energy agenda of this mechanism. China welcomes Venezuela’s positive intention to join the BRICS and supports its efforts to achieve this goal,” said a joint statement of the countries.
Last month, the bloc of emerging economies announced that six countries, including Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), will join it as full members next year.
More than 20 countries have expressed interest in joining the bloc, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
In the 30-point joint statement, the two countries also announced that they will elevate China-Venezuela relations to a strategic partnership in all fields.
The two sides also supported Latin America and the Caribbean’s initiative as a nuclear-weapon-free zone and said they oppose Japan’s discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea.
Beijing, for its part, opposed unilateral sanctions against Venezuela, saying they seriously violate basic principles of international law, such as national sovereign equality and non-interference in internal affairs, and seriously harm the Venezuelan people’s rights to survival, development, and peace.
“China firmly supports the Venezuelan people’s just struggle to defend national sovereignty and oppose external sanctions and opposes the implementation of illegal mandatory unilateral sanctions and so-called “long-arm jurisdiction” against Venezuela by individual countries under any pretext,” the statement said, adding that Beijing opposes any act of political intimidation, military intervention, or use of threats of force.
The two sides agreed to encourage and support all efforts for a peaceful resolution of the Ukraine crisis and said dialogue and negotiation are the only feasible ways to resolve the crisis.
Venezuela highly appreciates and strongly supports China’s relevant proposals. “Both sides called on more countries to play a constructive role in promoting a political solution to the Ukrainian crisis,” the statement added.
