After US forces carried out air and ground strikes in Venezuela over the weekend, capturing President Nicolás Maduro and signalling Washington’s intention to oversee a political transition rather than cede influence to rival powers, attention quickly turned to Beijing. China has long been regarded as one of Maduro’s most important external backers, making its reaction to the removal of a sitting president by US force closely watched far beyond Latin America.

China’s initial response was restrained though. Beijing said it was “deeply shocked” by America’s “blatant use of force against a sovereign state and action against its president”, according to Time. Beyond that statement, however, Chinese officials stopped short of concrete retaliation or threats, a silence that is striking given the scale of the intervention and its implications for sovereignty norms.

Soon afterwards, the US administration sought to underline continuity in energy markets. According to the South China Morning Post, Washington stressed its interest in keeping Venezuelan oil flowing to key global buyers, particularly China, despite the dramatic change in political control in Caracas. That message appeared designed to calm markets and reassure Beijing that its energy security would not be directly affected.

Yet while the strikes triggered a national emergency declaration inside Venezuela, with troops mobilised across several states. Washington later confirmed that Maduro and his wife had been removed from the country, marking one of the most direct US interventions in Latin America in decades. According to the latest reports out of the US, Maduro is now being held in New York.

China has been by far the largest destination for Venezuelan crude in recent years. Venezuelan supplies account for roughly 4% of China’s total oil imports, with daily shipments often running into several hundred thousand barrels. In late 2025, data suggested China was receiving more than 600,000 barrels a day of Venezuelan crude, with some estimates around 570,000 bpd in the autumn, reflecting deepening trade ties despite international sanctions, according to a mid-December report by Reuters.

Beijing’s appetite for Venezuela’s heavy crude has been sustained by long-standing credit arrangements and steep discounts that appeal to independent Chinese refiners, even as US secondary sanctions complicate flows, Reuters reported.

Beyond energy markets, however, the episode is being watched closely in Beijing and across the Strait of Taiwan in Taipei for its strategic implications. Chinese commentators and military analysts have increasingly argued that US actions abroad reveal a flexible interpretation of sovereignty when Washington deems its interests at stake. The removal of Maduro, followed by explicit US involvement in managing a transition, risks being cited in future Chinese narratives as evidence that great powers intervene directly when geopolitical or economic interests demand it.

This could – or should – be raising questions in neighbouring Taiwan, where such an argument carries particular weight after the People’s Liberation Army conducted large-scale air and naval exercises around Taiwan in the past week, simulating blockades and joint strike operations.

In Chinese discourse, Taiwan is framed as an internal matter, yet Beijing has long bristled at Western criticism of any use of force against the island. The Venezuela operation may now offer rhetorical cover. Chinese officials could point to US actions in the western hemisphere to argue that Washington has weakened its own moral authority to oppose decisive measures elsewhere.

That said, while there is no indication of imminent military action against Taiwan, the timing is sensitive. By maintaining Venezuelan oil flows to China while forcibly removing a foreign leader, the US has demonstrated a willingness to separate economic pragmatism from political norms. Beijing may seek to draw lessons from this approach, arguing that stability, trade continuity and strategic necessity can all coexist with coercive action – just as the US has demonstrated.

For global energy markets, the immediate concern remains whether Venezuelan output can be stabilised after years of underinvestment and sanctions. For geopolitics, however, the longer-term question is whether Washington’s move becomes a precedent, and one that China could invoke as tensions around Taiwan continue to rise.