Could China rescue Venezuela?

The crisis in Venezuela may be reaching a breaking point. This past weekend, more than 7 million people participated in an unofficial protest vote. They rejected President Nicolás Maduro’s plan to rewrite the Constitution to give himself and his party more power. Some say the Latin American nation is sliding into a dictatorship – or outright revolt.

Why might China help?

Venezuela owes China about $62 billion for loans. It’s already behind on the payments. China doesn’t want Caracas to default. If Mr. Maduro goes, the opposition says it won’t make payments on a bad deal made by the previous government.

Watch for China to send an indirect signal at the United Nations. It might call for a “political rebalancing” in Venezuela, observes Eric Farnsworth at the Council of the Americas. China may even go so far as to reject Maduro’s planned constituent assembly in late July and call for new elections.

Those aren’t moves normally found in China’s diplomatic playbook. But faced with losing $62 billion and access to the world’s largest oil reserves, Beijing may have to get creative in Venezuela.