Maduro met Chinese envoy hours before US capture from Caracas as Beijing slams operation

Just hours before his capture by the U.S., Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro met with a Chinese envoy, highlighting the great power competition between Washington and Beijing in the Western Hemisphere.

Maduro received Qiu Xiaoqi, the Chinese government’s special representative for Latin American affairs, at the Miraflores Presidential Palace on Friday — reaffirming Caracas’ strategic ties with Beijing and pledging to build what he called a "multipolar world of development and peace.

Hours later...