The Chinese Foreign Ministry condemned “interference of external forces in Venezuela’s internal affairs” during its regular press briefing on Wednesday, demanding that the United States “engage in normal law enforcement” rather than military operations to stop organized drug trafficking in the Caribbean Sea.
Despite having no geographic stake in the matter of drug trafficking in the Western Hemisphere, the Chinese Communist Party has repeatedly offered its opinion against curtailing the influx of illicit drugs into the United States. It has particularly spoken out in defense of the illegitimate Venezuelan socialist regime, whose “Cartel of the Suns” the administration of President Donald Trump is set to formally declare a foreign terrorist organization on November 24. Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, are both widely considered cartel leaders. The United States maintains active bounties of $15 million and $10 million, respectively, for their capture.
“Maduro is NOT the President of Venezuela and his regime is NOT the legitimate government,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio affirmed in July. “Maduro is the head of the Cartel de Los Soles, a narco-terror organization which has taken possession of a country. And he is under indictment for pushing drugs into the United States.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning did not address the damaging criminal activities by the Cartel of the Suns or other related syndicates in the region, instead focusing on disparaging U.S. efforts to protect Americans and their neighbors from these organized criminal entities.
“China opposes any moves that violate the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and other countries’ sovereignty and security, and the interference of external forces in Venezuela’s internal affairs under any pretext,” Mao said in response to a question about “Operation Southern Spear,” the Pentagon’s initiative to eradicate drug crime in the Caribbean.
Posters seized drugs are seen before US Attorney General Pam Bondi held a press conference at the Treasury Department in Washington, DC, on May 6, 2025. Bondi announced the outcome of a weeklong, multi-agency enforcement operation targeting one of the largest drug trafficking organizations responsible for trafficking fentanyl and other illicit narcotics. (OLIVER CONTRERAS/AFP via Getty Images)
“We hope the U.S. will engage in normal law enforcement and judicial cooperation through bilateral and multilateral legal frameworks and choose the course of action that is conducive to peace and stability in Latin America and the Caribbean region,” she demanded, according to a translation by the Foreign Ministry.
While Secretary of War Pete Hegseth relaunched Operation Southern Spear last week, following multiple kinetic military engagements against drug trafficking vessels, the Trump administration, via the Navy, had initially announced such a program just eight days after Trump’s second inauguration in January.
“Southern Spear will operationalize a heterogeneous mix of Robotic and Autonomous Systems (RAS) to support the detection and monitoring of illicit trafficking while learning lessons for other theaters,” Cmdr. Foster Edwards, 4th Fleet’s Hybrid Fleet Director, announced at the time. “Southern Spear will continue our (4th Fleet’s) move away from short-duration experimentation into long-duration operations that will help develop critical techniques and procedures in integrating RAS into the maritime environment.”
The Navy became more active in the past two months in identifying and striking drug trafficking vessels, and has since engaged in operations to protect citizens from drug crime with partner states. Most recently, on Monday, the Dominican Republic announced that it had engaged in a joint U.S. operation resulting in the seizure of 806 packs of suspected cocaine en route to the country on a vessel also seized in the operation.
As part of the operations, President Trump ordered the country’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, to deploy to the Caribbean this month.
“With more than 4,000 Sailors and dozens of tactical aircraft aboard, Gerald R. Ford provides combatant commanders and America’s civilian leaders increased capacity to project power through sustained operations at sea,” U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) explained on Tuesday. “The first-in-class carrier can simultaneously catapult launch and recover fixed-wing aircraft on its flight deck, day or night, in support of tasked operations.”
The Chinese government has consistently opposed attempts to weaken the Maduro regime, which has clung to power through over a decade of sham elections and widespread violence against dissidents. In August, the Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Mao issued an almost identical condemnation of American law enforcement activity, stating, “We oppose the use or threat of force in international relations and the interference of external forces in Venezuela’s internal affairs under any pretext.”
“We hope that the United States will do more things conducive to peace and security in Latin America and the Caribbean region,” she insisted.
China also sent its ambassador in Caracas, Lan Hu, to meet Maduro personally and display solidarity from the Communist Party. Maduro described the meeting as an exchange to celebrate the “remarkable progress” in bilateral relations regarding “the economy, science, technology and Artificial Intelligence.”
In early November, Mao once again defended the Venezuelan narco-regime from America’s self-defense operations, insisting that they were “excessive” and violated Venezuela’s “sovereignty.”
“China has a clear-cut stance on the US cracking down on so-called drug cartels by force in the Caribbean Sea,” Mao said, defending “the efforts of combating cross-border crimes through stronger international cooperation.”
Beijing “stands against the moves that undermine peace and stability in the LAC (Latin American) region and opposes unilateral and excessive enforcement operations against other countries’ vessels,” she added.
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