Donald Trump's Venezuela risk brings risk to China's plans

The US's seizure of Nicolás Maduro carries uncertainty for China, which is no fan of chaos.

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Only hours before he was seized in a nighttime raid, Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro had been praising his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping as "an older brother" with a "powerful message as a leader to the world" during a meeting with senior diplomats from Beijing.

China has invested heavily in oil-rich Venezuela, one of its closest South American partners. And its state media showed off the footage from that meeting to prove it: smiling men in suits, reviewing some of the 600 current agreements between their two countries - except the next photograph of Maduro was taken on board a US warship, blindfolded and handcuffed, in grey sweats.

China joined many countries around the world in condemning Washington's stunning move against a sovereign state. It accused the US of acting like a "world judge" and insisted that "the sovereignty and security of all countries should be fully protected under international law".

Those stern words aside, Beijing will be making careful calculations not just to insure its foothold in South America, but also to manage an already tricky relationship with Trump and plot its next steps as the great power competition between the US and China takes a new, wholly unexpected turn.