Chinese leader, Xi Jinping has urged countries to obey international law.
This comes amid US capture of Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro.
Without mentioning the United States or Venezuela, Xi said that “all countries should respect the development paths independently chosen by the peoples of other nations.”
He added that they must abide by international law and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, “with major powers, in particular, taking the lead.”
Xi said that the world “is undergoing a period of turbulence and change” while noting that “unilateral and bullying actions are seriously impacting the international order.”
Xi made the comments during a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin.
China has long been close to Venezuela. It previously called on the US to “immediately” release Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife and also said that it was “deeply shocked by and strongly condemns the US’s blatant use of force against a sovereign state.”
China is a major purchaser of oil from the heavily sanctioned Venezuela and the sudden seizure of President Nicolás Maduro by US special forces has sparked widespread discussion inside China.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump stated that he doesn’t think his operation in Venezuela will affect his relationship with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. “I have a very good relationship (with Xi),” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One Sunday night. “We have the power of tariffs and he has other powers on us,” Trump added. He is planning on traveling to visit Xi in April.
China Poised To Bolster Ties With Ireland
Meanwhile, Xi asserted that China is willing to strengthen strategic communication with Ireland, deepen political mutual trust and expand pragmatic cooperation to benefit the peoples of both countries and add momentum to China-EU relations.
When meeting with Taoiseach of Ireland, Micheal Martin in Beijing, Xi said that China is willing to strengthen economic and trade cooperation with Ireland, align development strategies in fields such as artificial intelligence, digital economy, and medicine and healthcare, promote two-way investment, leverage each other’s strengths, share opportunities and pursue common development.
He urged that the two sides should enhance cooperation in education, culture and tourism to foster greater people-to-people affinity, and China welcomes more Irish youth to come to China for study and exchanges.
Xi added that both China and Ireland support multilateralism and advocate international fairness and justice, while urging the two sides to strengthen coordination and cooperation in international affairs, and jointly maintain the authority of the UN and make the global governance system more just and equitable.
Xi said that China and the EU should bear the long-term picture in mind, uphold the positioning of partnership, and view and handle differences objectively and rationally to work for win-win cooperation.
Also, the Chinese President stated that as Ireland will hold the rotating EU presidency in the second half of this year, China hopes Ireland will play a constructive role in promoting the healthy and stable development of China-EU relations.
Noting that Ireland firmly adheres to the one-China policy, Martin said that the country is committed to developing the strategic partnership for mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries.
He added that Ireland is willing to deepen cooperation with China in trade, investment, science and technology, biomedicine, renewable energy, artificial intelligence, education and other fields.
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