Chavez rips U.S., Israel during China visit

"President Hu Jintao on Thursday endorsed Venezuela's
campaign for a Security Council seat. The bid has unsettled
Washington... U.S. officials are backing Guatemala for the sea
t instead."
"On Thursday, he signed agreements that call for Beijing to
help Venezuela, the world's No. 5 petroleum exporter,
develop oil fields, a telecoms network, farming and gold and
coal mines."
"China is eager for access to Latin American energy sources
to fuel its booming economy, while Chavez wants to reduce
Venezuela's dependence on the United States, its key export
market."

Chavez accomplished his immediate objectives, completing mutually-beneficial
deals with China. China is responding with support for Chavez' attempt to bring
more sanity to the Security Council. Given that Washington is struggling to gain
cooperation from China and Russia on a variety of issues, might the US be pushed
into accepting Chavez' bid for a seat? It's a long shot but a hopeful one.

Washington's suggestion of Guatemala for a seat is both morally reprehensible
and from a Machiavellian perspective unwise. Reprehensible because Guatemala is
a fascist dictatorship; unwise because everyone knows it's a subservient US
client state: the US initiative is obviously and blatantly self-serving.

rkm

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Original source URL:
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/08/25/chavez.china.ap/index.html?section=cnn_latest

Chavez rips U.S., Israel during China visit

BEIJING, China (AP) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez slammed Washington on
Friday for opposing his bid for a U.N. Security Council seat and condemned
Israel's strikes in Lebanon as comparable to the acts of Adolf Hitler.

The left-leaning Chavez also said Venezuela wants to expand ties with China,
giving Beijing a bigger role in its oil industry and drawing on the communist
government's experience in modernizing its economy.

President Hu Jintao on Thursday endorsed Venezuela's campaign for a Security
Council seat. The bid has unsettled Washington because of Chavez's efforts to
foster relations with North Korea and Iran. U.S. officials are backing Guatemala
for the seat instead.

"The U.S. government has employed every means to block my country from joining
the Security Council," Chavez told reporters. "The American imperialists are
trying to stop us."

Chavez condemned Israeli attacks in Lebanon since July 12 that have killed
civilians. He compared them to the acts of Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany,
and said Israeli leaders should be prosecuted for genocide before the
International Court of Justice.

"Israel is doing the same thing as Hitler today," he said. "We give our sympathy
to the Arab people and condemn Israel."

Chavez has made similar remarks about Israel recently and has scaled back ties
with the Israeli government while also building close relations with Iran.

Earlier this month, Chavez withdrew his country's top diplomat to Israel to
protest its attacks in Lebanon and its actions toward the Palestinians. Israel,
which responded by calling home its ambassador, has criticized what it calls
Chavez's "one-sided policy" and "wild slurs."

Chavez said Friday he was invited to visit Syria but hasn't set a date. He said
he has no plans to meet with Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah, whose
guerrillas are fighting Israeli forces in Lebanon.

Chavez, an admirer of Mao Zedong, founder of the communist Chinese government,
was on his fourth trip to China since taking office in 1999.

On Thursday, he signed agreements that call for Beijing to help Venezuela, the
world's No. 5 petroleum exporter, develop oil fields, a telecoms network,
farming and gold and coal mines. (Full story)

China is eager for access to Latin American energy sources to fuel its booming
economy, while Chavez wants to reduce Venezuela's dependence on the United
States, its key export market.

On Friday, Chavez showed reporters a chart depicting a planned sharp increase in
the share of Venezuelan oil produced and refined by joint ventures with China in
coming years.

He said Venezuela plans to almost quadruple sales to China to 1 million barrels
a day in the next decade.

Chavez said China and Venezuela would jointly build refinery project in his
country to process 1 million barrels of crude a day, though he didn't give other
details.

"China has rich experience in this field," he said. "China will provide
personnel, training and experience and technology in the lower end of this
industry."

Also Friday, Chavez visited the headquarters of China's space program in the
Beijing suburbs, where technicians are building a communications satellite to be
launched in 2008 for Venezuela.

He said 29 Venezuelan students were in China earning Ph.D.s and master's
degrees, mainly in aerospace fields.

During the weekend, Chavez planned to travel to the eastern city of Jinan, where
he reportedly was to visit Chinese companies involved in developing Venezuelan
gold and coal mines.

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