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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing cannot accept any country acting as the \u201cworld\u2019s judge\u201d after the United States captured Venezuela\u2019s President Nicolas Maduro.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWe have never believed that any country can act as the world\u2019s police, nor do we accept that any nation can claim to be the world\u2019s judge,\u201d Wang told his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar during a meeting in Beijing on Sunday, referring to \u201csudden developments in Venezuela\u201d without directly mentioning the US<\/p>\n \u201cThe sovereignty and security of all countries should be fully protected under international law,\u201d China\u2019s top diplomat added, in his first remarks since images of the 63-year-old Maduro blindfolded and handcuffed on Saturday stunned Venezuelans.<\/p>\n Maduro is in a New York detention centre awaiting a Monday court appearance on drug charges.<\/p>\n Beijing has ambition to become a diplomatic heavyweight, a goal it articulated most clearly after brokering a surprise rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran in 2023, pledging to \u201cplay a constructive role in global hotspot issues.\u201d Analysts say Beijing\u2019s success in going toe-to-toe with the US in trade negotiations has only reinforced China\u2019s confidence.<\/p>\n However, President Donald Trump\u2019s assertion that the U.S. will oversee Venezuela\u2019s government for the time being poses a stern test to the \u201call-weather comprehensive strategic partnership\u201d Beijing and Caracas struck in 2023, marking almost 50 years of diplomatic ties.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a big blow to China, we wanted to look like a dependable friend to Venezuela,\u201d said a Chinese government official briefed on a meeting between Maduro and China\u2019s special representative for Latin American and Caribbean affairs, Qiu Xiaoqi, hours before his capture.<\/p>\n Maduro\u2019s son visited China\u2019s top-ranking Peking University in 2024, where he enrolled in 2016, they said, adding they were unsure whether he would return despite years of diplomatic engagement with Caracas around his education and ties to China.<\/p>\n The world\u2019s second-largest economy has provided Venezuela with an economic lifeline since the US and its allies ramped up sanctions in 2017, purchasing roughly $1.6 billion worth of goods in 2024, the most recent full-year data available.<\/p>\n North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected a greenhouse farm construction site along the country\u2019s border with China on Friday.<\/p>\n Almost half of China\u2019s purchases were crude oil, customs data shows, while its state-owned oil giants had invested around $4.6 billion in Venezuela by 2018, according to data from the American Enterprise Institute think tank, which tracks Chinese overseas corporate investment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n