Venezuela and China: 35 years of friendship

Chinese President Hu Jintao welcomes his Venezuelan counterpart, President Hugo Chvez, at the Great Hall of the People on April 8, 2009.

It has now been 35 years since Venezuela and China formally established diplomatic relations back on June 28, 1974.

Since then, the two countries have gradually built a relationship based on friendship and mutual respect that has grown stronger with every passing day.

If one were to visualize our relationship as an imaginary bridge, gradually spanning the gap between them, then the last 10 years has shown the most dramatic progress in its construction.

The current strength, depth and breadth of the ties between the two nations can trace its roots back to 1999 and the election of the Venezuelan Bolivarian Government.

It is no coincidence that this deepening of ties with China is taking place under the government of President Hugo Chvez, whose Bolivarian foreign policy is based on the same guiding principles embodied in China's own outlook on international affairs.

Both countries believe that activity in the international arena should be determined by respect for the principles of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs and the legally-enshrined equality of all nation states.

Both countries consider the defense of world peace as of paramount importance, supporting a policy of resolving differences through peaceful means.

We both endorse the policy of multi-polarity as the best possible way of achieving global equilibrium and constructive stability, thereby allowing nations to develop freely and fulfill their own potentials.

Since 1999, the levels of political dialogue, consultations and agreements between China and Venezuela has intensified through the exchange of numerous high-level official visits.

Of particular significance are the six visits made by President Hugo Chvez to the People's Republic of China (1999, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2009), and the visits to Venezuela made by President Jiang Zemin in 2001; Vice President Zeng Qinghong in 2005; member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China Li Changchun in 2007; Vice Premier Hui Liangyu in May 2008; and the recent visit of Vice President Xi Jinping in February 2009.

As a result of this dialogue, extraordinary progress has been made in terms of concrete resolutions.

There has been unprecedented growth in commercial exchanges and cooperation between the two countries. There are currently 260 bilateral agreements in place, over 80 percent of which were entered into during President Chvez's term in office.

As a result of these agreements, there are currently some 69 joint venture projects, at varying levels of completion, underway between the countries. Many of these projects are taking place at the highest possible strategic level.

Taking part in these projects - which cover all possible fields of cooperation between the two countries - are some of China's largest and most internationally respected companies.

Enhanced coordination

Coordination of this cooperation is carried out through the mechanism of the Venezuela-China High Level Joint Commission.

This was established by both governments in 2001 and is jointly presided over by the Venezuelan Ministry of Popular Power of Planning and Development and China's National Development and Reform Commission.

The eighth meeting of the Joint Commission, which continuously monitors the implementation of projects by the two countries, is scheduled to take place in Caracas in the last quarter of 2009.

At that stage an evaluation will be made of the progress made in the 12 month period since the Joint Commission's seventh meeting, held in Beijing in September 2008.

The Strategic Alliance for Shared Development, which oversees cooperative initiatives between Venezuela and China, was established in 2001.

It was initially established to manage projects in the energy and agriculture sectors, but has since broadened its remit in line with the increasingly diverse areas of cooperation entered into by the two countries.

In the agricultural sector, cooperation between the two countries has seen the completion of a number of huge projects, most notably the implementation of Venezuela's national irrigation system.

A recent example of this is the current partnership between PDVSA Agrcola, a Venezuelan state oil company subsidiary dedicated to the development of agricultural products, and a number of Chinese oil companies.

Cooperation in the energy sector proper has also increased considerably over recent years.

At present, both countries are working toward establishing Venezuela as one of China's leading partners in the production of crude oil and its by-products.

With a target date of 2012 already agreed, the two nations are now working together to create the necessary infrastructure, including the construction of oil tankers and refineries in China, to allow full future cooperation in the areas of oil exploration, extraction and production.

Venezuela and China have also broadened cooperation on telecommunications, infrastructure and culture sectors.

In the telecom sector, the two countries are working together to develop Venezuela's national fiber-optic network, as well as on the establishment of a manufacturing base for mobile phone handsets.

In the science and technology sector, the partnership has already resulted in the opening of both the Scientific Technological Industrial Park of Venezuela and the Bolivarian Computers Factory.

Similar progress has been made in the aerospace sector and has already resulted in the successful launch of the Venesat-1 satellite.

Great things are also expected in the infrastructure sector, where collaborative work on a number of high profile projects - including the National Rail Network, the Bolivarian Aqueduct and the national level Plan for Residential Construction - are all well advanced.

At the same time, cooperation has been gaining momentum in the areas of culture, education and sport, while a number of previously unanticipated opportunities have also arisen.

Among these is cooperation in the field of social affairs, which allows Venezuela to benefit from China's huge experience in the struggle against poverty.

The financing of cooperation on such vast and complex projects has been underwritten by the establishment of the Joint Financing Fund, also known as the "Heavy Fund". In February of 2008, $6 billion worth of financing was released into the fund, with a renewable option scheduled on a three-yearly basis.

In 2009, both sides mutually agreed to increase the level of the Joint Fund to $12 billion to ensure the viability of future cooperative projects.

Story provided by the Venezuelan Embassy in China

(China Daily 06/29/2009 page5)