Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing cannot accept any country acting as the “world’s judge” after the United States captured Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro.
The world’s second-largest economy has provided Venezuela with an economic lifeline since the U.S. and its allies ramped up sanctions in 2017, purchasing roughly $1.6 billion worth of goods in 2024, the most recent full-year data available.
Almost half of China’s purchases were crude oil, customs data shows, while its state-owned oil giants had invested around $4.6 billion in Venezuela by 2018, according to data from the American Enterprise Institute think tank, which tracks Chinese overseas corporate investment.
Yeah, much as I dislike how it turned out and how China has been ignoring what post-unification rules there were on Hong Kong, the return itself was above board. Had I been living in Hong Kong in the years leading up I’d have taken the opportunity to get out if at all possible.
Idk about above board, the nation it was supposed to be returned to doesn’t exist anymore.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Successor_state
Example:
USSR --> Succeeded by Russian Federation and they inherited the UN seat and the Non Proliferation Treaty
ROC --> UN members voted to recognize PRC as the representative of “China”
Returning Hong Kong to China wasn’t the issue, the issue is that PRC does not have democracy. If they had democracy, I doubt anyone would care that Hong Kong became part of China.
I don’t think Hong Kongers want to secede, per se, they just want freedom.
I certainly wouldn’t. If anything I’d probably celebrate it.
It’s a not uncommon pattern to have “successor states” that inherit the treaties and obligations of the previous ones. For example how Russia “inherited” the Soviet Union’s position on the UN Security Council, or how Canada is bound by treaties with the First Nations that were signed by Britain (who we were a colony of at the time).
Would have been a Big Funny if Britain had handed Hong Kong off to Taiwan instead, though.
Yeah that would have been awesome.