China Slams US Venezuela Trade Licenses That Exclude It

(MENAFN) China launched a sharp diplomatic rebuke on Wednesday against Washington's decision to issue "general licenses" for trade dealings with Venezuela — a framework that explicitly carves out China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and Cuba from permitted transactions.

"China firmly opposes setting restrictions on China-Venezuela cooperation by issuing so-called general licenses," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing, stressing "safeguarding interests" of the world's second-largest economy.

The US Treasury had on Tuesday issued a sanctions waiver related to Venezuela, stipulating that newly permitted transactions exclude the processing or refining of Venezuelan-origin minerals — gold among them — and explicitly bar participation by Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and China.

Mao pushed back forcefully, arguing that Washington should abandon the waiver approach altogether. Instead of the general licenses, Mao said the US should "lift illicit, unilateral sanctions on Venezuela at once, rather than use so-called general licenses to whitewash its moves" to hamper "lawful interests of other parties."

The latest policy move by the Trump administration follows a dramatic escalation earlier this year, when US forces conducted a raid on Caracas in January, seizing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro alongside his wife Cilia Flores. The couple have since been held in New York, facing allegations that include drug trafficking and weapons-related offenses.

Both have categorically denied all allegations against them.

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