The US on Saturday last week moved swiftly and decisively to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, bringing them to New York for trial. The shocking move by US President Donald Trump’s administration carries profound international strategic significance, most notably as it highlights the failure of the China model.
The legal and strategic rationales of Trump’s actions are clear: The operation was aimed at a security threat to the US, posed by what the White House characterized as state-sanctioned drug trafficking. Prior to the strike, the US spent months maneuvering and laying groundwork, with each stage of the process gradually unfolding before the world’s eyes.
This is not the bullying of a small country by a great power; the US is cracking down on drugs and dictators. The objective was clearly defined and the operation conducted with surgical precision. Afterward, the streets were full of Venezuelans celebrating Maduro’s downfall — the direct result of a carefully calculated strategy.
Beyond the two parties directly involved — the US and Venezuela — China’s presence is inescapable. A longtime supporter of Caracas, Beijing is the primary target of Washington’s warning. That Maduro was captured despite being under China’s protective umbrella underscores Beijing’s vulnerability and demonstrates its fundamental unreliability.
Venezuela is one of China’s largest military partners in South America, equipped with Chinese-made radar systems such as the JYL-1, air-defense systems, K-8 jets and armored vehicles. There have even been reports of Chinese military advisers operating in Venezuela, with the country’s military being touted as the strongest in South America.
Venezuela is also a recipient of training in Chinese military doctrine. However, reality has proven that in the face of the US military’s overwhelming electronic warfare, stealth aircraft and precision strike capabilities, the Chinese-made defense system was effectively useless — unable to detect or intercept US forces.
Trump’s action demonstrated that the US-based defense chain was successful under actual combat conditions.
Taiwan is a major user of advanced US weapons systems, including F-16V Block 20 jets, the Patriot air-defense missile system and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System. By contrast, the catastrophic failure of Venezuela’s “China shield” and its disastrous defeat in actual combat illustrate the systemic vulnerabilities of Chinese equipment.
Furthermore, China has treated Venezuela as a key South American node in its Belt and Road Initiative, providing the Maduro regime with around-the-clock support across political, economic and diplomatic domains for years. Yet, when the US military launched its operation, Beijing did nothing beyond verbal protests — incapable and unwilling to intervene or militarily obstruct it.
Instead, it could only watch in shock and regret, exposing China as a paper tiger when it comes to being a “security ally.” The incident should serve as a stark warning for other pro-China countries in the region.
The most intriguing side of all of this is that, apart from Venezuela, the other country that has been repeatedly named, sanctioned and treated as a national security threat by the US for exporting state-backed opioids such as fentanyl is China. Now that the “junior” has fallen, how can the “senior” continue indulging in a drug lord’s regime without risking becoming the US’ next target? This is the dilemma Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) faces after the failure of the China model.
Tzou Jiing-wen is editor-in-chief of the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper).
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
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