China hits back at US criticism of oil-for-loan investments in Venezuela
All lending was in accordance with international standards and benefited local people, foreign ministry says
China’s support for Venezuela has benefited ordinary people and been broadly welcomed, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday after the United States Treasury accused Beijing of aiding Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government with murky oil-for-loan investments.
In a Friday speech at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, the US Treasury’s top economic diplomat, David Malpass, said China’s focus on commodities and opaque financing deals had hurt, not helped, countries in the region.
His attack on China’s role in aiding the Venezuelan government came a day after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, ahead of a five-day tour of Latin America, raised the prospect of a military coup in the oil-rich country.
Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said financial cooperation between the two countries had been set by companies and financial bodies in both nations on commercial, win-win principles.
