China backs Venezuela, Trump hints Maduro’s end is near as tensions escalate

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China on Tuesday defended its growing cooperation with Venezuela, saying that its engagement with leader Nicolás Maduro’s government “constitutes normal cooperation between sovereign states” and is “not directed against any third party.”

The comments, made by Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning, followed a Washington Post report that Maduro had sought military assistance from Russia, China, and Iran to bolster Venezuela’s defenses amid escalating tensions with the United States. “China supports strengthened international cooperation to combat transnational crime and opposes the use or threat of force in international relations,” Mao told reporters in Beijing.

She added that China “opposes any attempt to undermine peace and stability in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as unilateral coercive actions against foreign vessels that exceed reasonable and necessary limits.” Beijing also urged Washington to “carry out regular judicial and law enforcement cooperation through bilateral and multilateral legal frameworks,” in what analysts saw as a veiled rebuke of U.S. maritime operations in the Caribbean. According to the Post article, Maduro is urgently seeking to strengthen Venezuela’s failing armed forces through military assistance from China, Russia and Iran. The outreach involves soliciting defensive radars, aircraft repairs, drone technology and potentially missiles.

While Russia is taking the lead — Maduro directly appealed to Moscow — China is part of the same effort. Beijing has a significant history of supporting the Maduro regime with billions in loans, surveillance technology and medical aid. It is not known what type of aid China has provided or pledged in response to Maduro’s request. Reports over the past week indicate that the United States is expanding its military presence in the Caribbean—a buildup that has fueled speculation about possible strikes against targets inside Venezuela.

The Miami Herald and the Wall Street Journal reported that President Donald Trump’s administration has identified Venezuelan military installations allegedly tied to drug trafficking networks as potential bombing targets.

According to defense analysts cited by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the U.S. military will soon have 13 vessels in the region—including eight warships, three amphibious vessels, and a submarine—marking Washington’s largest military deployment in Latin America since the Gulf War. The newly arrived USS Gettysburg and USS Lake Erie cruisers have joined other U.S. vessels already stationed near Venezuelan waters, and the USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier, is expected to arrive in days.

Trump plays down war talk, but avoids denial President Trump on Sunday said he does not believe the United States is “going to war with Venezuela,” but he refused to confirm or deny whether his administration has plans for a military strike. In an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Trump was asked directly whether the U.S. “is going to war with Venezuela.” He replied, “I doubt it. I don’t think so. But they’ve treated us very badly,” before pivoting to complaints about drug trafficking and what he described as the illegal immigration of “Venezuelan criminals” into the United States.

Pressed by interviewer Norah O’Donnell about possible U.S. attacks on targets inside Venezuelan territory, Trump said he didn’t want to say “whether it’s true or not,” adding, “I wouldn’t tell a reporter if I was going to attack or not.” In another encounter with reporters, Trump gave a similar response. “How could I answer a question like that? Are there plans for an attack on Venezuela? Who would say that? Assuming there were, would I tell you? Honestly? Yes, we have plans.

We have very secret plans,” he said, before shifting back to claims that Venezuela’s government had “sent thousands of people from prisons, mental institutions, and drug facilities” to the United States. When asked about the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford—the Navy’s largest and most sophisticated carrier—Trump replied with a smirk: “It’s got to be somewhere. It’s very big.” Throughout the CBS interview, the president repeatedly deflected questions about Venezuela by returning to the issue of immigration.

Asked whether Maduro’s “days are numbered,” Trump responded quickly: “I’d say yes, I think so.” In August, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the U.S. had doubled the $25 million reward for Maduro’s capture, calling him “one of the world’s biggest drug traffickers and a threat to our national security.” Bondi said Maduro heads the Cartel de los Soles, a drug-trafficking organization embedded in Venezuela’s military, and works with groups including Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, and other transnational criminal networks. Maduro deepens ties with Russia In Caracas, Maduro confirmed on Monday that Venezuela and Russia are “advancing” in what he described as “serene and very productive” military cooperation.

Speaking during his weekly television program “Con Maduro +,” the Venezuelan leader said he maintains “daily and permanent communication” with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Russia is a global power capable of establishing relations of equality and respect with countries like Venezuela,” Maduro said. “The relationship with Russia is exemplary—based on mutual development and respect for international law.” The Kremlin on Sunday acknowledged “contacts” with Venezuela, though spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not confirm The Washington Post’s report that Maduro had formally requested military aid. “We are in contact with our Venezuelan friends,” Peskov told the Russian news agency TASS, adding that the two nations are bound by “contractual obligations.”

Maduro has repeatedly accused the U.S. of trying to overthrow him and urged Washington to abandon “military plans” against Venezuela. Expanding U.S. operation The U.S. military has sharply increased its presence off Venezuela’s coast as part of an operation the White House says is aimed at disrupting drug trafficking and criminal networks tied to the Caracas regime. In August, Washington began assembling a large-scale deployment in the southern Caribbean Sea near northern Venezuela, creating a Joint Task Force that initially included three destroyers—equipped for air, anti-submarine, and missile defense—and an amphibious group of roughly 4,500 troops.

The mission has included maritime patrols by P-8 reconnaissance aircraft and long-range surveillance flights to map trafficking routes. In September, the deployment was reinforced with 10 F-35B fighters based at Ceiba Air Base in Puerto Rico and armed MQ-9 Reaper drones at Rafael Hernández Airport on the island. U.S. officials say those aircraft can conduct precision strikes against laboratories, clandestine airstrips, vehicles or vessels linked to drug operations.

On Oct. 24, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the Gerald R. Ford and its strike group—including the cruiser USS Normandy and destroyers USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage, USS Carney, and USS Roosevelt—into the Caribbean. The carrier strike group, with more than 4,000 personnel and roughly 90 combat aircraft, is described by retired Venezuelan officers who spoke to the Herald as the centerpiece of a “final phase” intended to neutralize leaders of the Cartel of the Suns and Tren de Aragua, and to strike fixed and mobile targets inside Venezuela. So far, the force has been used mainly in maritime operations.

As of this week, U.S. strikes have targeted fast boats the administration says were carrying narcotics—most intercepted off Venezuela’s coast—killing at least 61 suspected traffickers. Administration officials say the task force will soon shift operations ashore because traffickers are now less willing to risk voyages that can be detected and targeted at sea. The sheer scale of the deployment has led many analysts to conclude that the mission’s ultimate aim is the removal of the Maduro regime, though U.S. officials have provided few specifics about any planned actions inside Venezuela. This story was complemented with reporting from El Nuevo Herald’s wire services.

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