China, Venezuela grow closer

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela took control this weekend of a Chinese-built communications satellite, part of a deepening trade relationship that some say illustrates waning U.S. influence in Latin America.

Accompanied by Chinese technicians at a communications facility in western Guarico state, President Hugo Chávez presided at a ceremony in which Venezuela formally assumed operation of the "Simón Bolivar," a $400 million satellite China launched Oct. 29.

"This will put an end to media terrorism and help us spread our own truth, to wage the battle of ideas with efficiency and transparency," Chávez said on national television Saturday.

Chávez said the satellite would strengthen his nation's sovereignty by overcoming U.S. "media bombardment." The orb will also bring the Internet to schools and homes across Venezuela and facilitate "tele-medicine" — sending medical tests of patients in remote locations via the Internet to medical centers for speedier diagnoses.

Evan Ellis, a consultant with Arlington, Va.-based Booz Allen Hamilton, said the satellite is an example of "strategic relationships" China has been able to build because the United States no longer "closely defends its exclusive presence" in Latin America.

"Traditionally, Chinese diplomacy has been cautious there for fear of provoking us and endangering its U.S. trade relationship," Ellis said. "But it's become bolder in its affairs, not just with relatively neutral countries, but even with a country like Venezuela, which is openly hostile to the United States."

Also this month, Venezuela is taking possession from China of 18 military jet training aircraft that can be refitted for combat and a missile-defense radar system. It has also begun to receive 27 oil-drilling platforms and a fleet of oil tankers it ordered from China, Ellis said.

China buys on average 338,000 barrels of Venezuelan oil daily, a figure that could rise to 1 million per day by 2012, Chávez has said. Venezuela effectively subsidizes those sales by paying freight costs to China.

Simon Alberto Consalvi, a Chávez critic and former foreign minister, said the burgeoning trade relationship has mostly benefited China, and that the recent decline in oil prices might force Chávez to curtail his spending.

"China is doing great business here while Venezuela is running up a very negative trade balance," said Consalvi. "With the drop in oil prices, I don't think Chávez can continue these sorts of arrangements."

China has also committed to investing billions in a heavy-oil development project in eastern Venezuela's Orinoco Belt, where several U.S. and European oil companies were given the boot after refusing to cede control of projects to the state oil company PDVSA.

Looking to secure long-term access to oil and other minerals, China has signed 21 such energy deals worldwide.