‘Release Venezuelan President Maduro At Once’: China Tells US To Resolve Issues Through Dialogue

Last Updated:January 04, 2026, 12:07 IST

US’ move is in clear violation of international law, the norms in international relations and the purposes & principles of UN Charter, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. (Image: Reuters)

China on Sunday called on the United States (US) on Sunday for the release of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, at once, the Global Times reported. Beijing also asked America to stop toppling the government of Venezuela, and resolve issues through dialogue and negotiation.

The country expressed serious concern over the US’s forcible control of Maduro and his wife and their transfer out of the country.

In a dramatic operation early on Saturday that knocked out electricity in parts of Caracas and included strikes on military installations, the US Special Forces seized the South American leader and his wife and transported them via helicopter to a US Navy ship offshore before flying them to the U.S. “We will run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition," Trump told a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. For months, his administration criticized Maduro, 63, over what it called his involvement in shipping drugs to the U.S. It ramped up pressure with a massive military build-up in the Caribbean and a series of deadly missile attacks on alleged drug-running boats.

The US’ move is in clear violation of international law and the basic norms in international relations and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Sunday.

Various countries and leaders in the US, too, have voiced their opposition to the move.

Maduro was in a New York detention center on Sunday.

Some legal experts questioned the legality of an operation to seize the head of state of a foreign power, while Democrats who said they were misled during recent Congress briefings demanded a plan for what is to follow.

Trump said as part of the takeover, major U.S. oil companies would move back into Venezuela, which has the world’s largest oil reserves, and refurbish badly degraded oil infrastructure, a process experts said could take years. He said he was open to sending U.S. forces into Venezuela. “We’re not afraid of boots on the ground," he said.

Images released by the US authorities showed the leader handcuffed and blindfolded during the flight, and later being led down a hallway at the offices of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, where he was heard wishing a “happy New Year."

Indicted on various federal charges, including narco-terrorism conspiracy, Maduro expected to make an initial appearance in Manhattan federal court on Monday, according to a Justice Department official.

Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, appeared on Venezuelan television on Saturday afternoon with other top officials to decry what she called a kidnapping. “We demand the immediate release of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores," Rodriguez said, calling Maduro “the only president of Venezuela." A Venezuelan court ordered Rodriguez to assume the position of interim president.

Many Venezuelan migrants around the world erupted in celebration. “We are free. We are all happy that the dictatorship has fallen and that we have a free country," said Khaty Yanez, who lives in the Chilean capital Santiago, one of an estimated 7.7 million Venezuelans – 20% of the population – who have left the country since 2014.

The UN Security Council planned to meet on Monday to discuss the actions, which Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described as “a dangerous precedent." Russia and China, both major backers of Venezuela, criticized the U.S. “China firmly opposes such hegemonic behavior by the U.S., which seriously violates international law, violates Venezuela’s sovereignty and threatens peace and security in Latin America and the Caribbean," China’s foreign ministry said.

Trump’s comments about an open-ended military presence in Venezuela echoed the rhetoric around past invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan, both of which ended in American withdrawals after years of costly occupation and thousands of U.S. casualties.

With Reuters Inputs

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