US President Donald Trump needed to demonstrate results on the international stage before his traditional State of the Union address.
This is how Cui Zhongzhou, an expert at the Center for Latin American Studies at the Southwest University of Science and Technology in China, commented on the situation in Venezuela.
“Trump will deliver his State of the Union address on the 20th, and against this backdrop, he needed foreign policy actions with clear results to demonstrate his governance skills“, Pengpai quoted him as saying. “Last year, Trump's mediation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict did not yield significant results and, strictly speaking, was a failure.“
Cui Zhongzhou believes that the US will consider two key issues: how to effectively dismantle the existing political structure in Venezuela and how to hold elections, “in support of the new puppet regime“. According to him, this will ultimately determine whether the United States can turn its military successes into long-term political gains.
Cui Junzhou said that the actions of the US military demonstrate its superior intelligence and military capabilities, but also reveal the threat to the security of any other country and provoke criticism from the international community.
The US military operation in Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolas Maduro pose a threat to the international order and show Washington's return to the Monroe Doctrine of open interference in the affairs of other countries.
These assessments by Chinese political scientists and international observers were quoted by the Global Times newspaper.
„The capture of a sitting head of state in this way is extremely unusual. "It not only violates international law, but also has no legal basis even under US domestic law," the newspaper quoted Liu Xiang, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, as saying.
The expert stressed that Washington's actions were a "huge shock to the international order," and the operation itself was a declaration of the revival of the "new Monroe Doctrine" and the consolidation of US hegemony in the region.
Professor Jiang Shixue from Fudan University, for his part, pointed to the economic motives behind the aggression, noting the US desire to regain control over Venezuela's oil resources. He added that Washington has long viewed the Venezuelan leadership as an obstacle to its interests, especially after the nationalization of the oil industry, which left American companies with a minimal presence in the country.
The Monroe Doctrine was formulated in 1823 by US President James Monroe and in practice has often served to justify US leadership in the region, the interference of some countries in the internal affairs of others, and expansionism.