Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Moros, on September 14, 2023, shows a copy of Global Times newspaper with the front page story about his visit to China. Photo: Yang Sheng/GT

 
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Moros held a press conference at the Venezuelan Embassy in China Thursday before concluding his visit and returning to his country, where he outlined his trip, which covered multiple cities in China, and hailed the China-Venezuela all-weather strategic partnership, saying that the 21st century is the end of hegemonism and imperialism and “a new world” of multi-polarization and fairness has arrived.

Maduro and his cabinet members arrived at the embassy in Beijing at 11:35 am, and the press conference started at around 12:30 pm at the embassy’s Hugo Chavez Hall. He shared his experiences in China during the past few days, saying he was impressed by the development of the international metropolises like Shanghai and Shenzhen, and he also recalled his trip to Mountain Tai in E. China’s Shandong Province, saying the China-Venezuela friendship is as rock-solid as the mountain.

Maduro highly valued the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind and the three Global Initiatives of Civilization, Security and Development proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, and thanked China for its investment and support for Latin America, which has greatly improved the development of the continent. He also condemned the US sanctions against his country, as Washington blocked other nations from supplying Venezuela vaccines and other materials during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying this was a crime against humanity, and thanked China for its firm support that helped his country during that difficult time.

While answering questions from the Global Times about the significance of the China-Venezuela all-weather strategic partnership and Venezuela’s plan to promote the partnership, the Venezuelan president said, "For the centenary of the relations between Venezuela and China, I am confident that Venezuela will have risen as an emerging power in South America, in the Global South, and there we will be hand-in-hand, China and Venezuela." 

"We have a relationship of friendship, of trust, and we reaffirm this path, the elevation of Venezuela-China relations to a powerful strategic partnership," affirmed the President. In this sense, he explained that the strategic partnership between both nations addresses qualitative and quantitative aspects, which will aim for the consolidation of important areas for the development of the South American country. 

"The qualitative aspect is unquestionable because there will be nothing that stops us on the path of development, expansion, growth, and the construction of a powerful economic foundation for the social happiness of our people, and every moment is quantitative in the times to come," Maduro said at the press conference. 

Before answering a question from the Global Times, Maduro received a copy of the newspaper with the front page story about his visit to China from the Global Times reporter, and asked, “Can I keep it?” The Global Times reporter said, “This is our gift for you.”

Maduro said at the press conference that "the economic presence and investments of China in Latin America and the Caribbean are the greatest force for development that the region has today." "China has become a financial economic superpower, but not an imperialist superpower, not a colonialist superpower, but a superpower based on the principles of peace, cooperation, and shared development," he emphasized. 

The Venezuelan president stressed that everything achieved, thanks to China, "has been a positive force for the economies of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, and that cannot be countered," emphasizing that negative opinions will be overcome by the reality that marks the end of imperialism. 

"We are in the 21st century, the century of the end of hegemonism, of imperialism; it is the century in which a different world has been born, a multi-polar world, a pluricentric world for peace and cooperation," he said. He also reiterated that these partnerships are not meant to go against other countries, but rather the purpose is "to develop industry, agriculture, technology, job creation capacity, to meet the needs of the people; that is what we do when we sit down to talk," he emphasized. 

"A new world has arrived," he emphasized, urging those who believe with their pettiness and envy that they can still dominate countries of the Global South to realize that it is over.

At the end of the press conference, Maduro showed a Huawei Mate X3 mobile phone, which he praised as an advanced and secure device, and he recommended that young people buy it, as not only can it make satellite calls, but can also prevent interruptions, interception and wiretaps from anyone.