China’s Bailing Out Venezuela’s Corrupt Regime. That’s Got to Stop.

Socialist solidarity appears to be alive and well; Karl Marx would be oh so proud. China, whose one-party system has managed to successfully open up much of its economy in recent decades, has decided to prop up one of the worst socialist experiments in history: Venezuela. We believe this is dangerous, both for Venezuelans and for the region. China’s ultra-pragmatic actions should surprise no one. And let’s be honest, this actually has nothing to do with socialism. China’s global soft power projection is ubiquitous today, and its frantic search for sources of energy is entirely understandable. So while they may bully their Asian neighbors, its businessmen and state-run companies are all over Africa, and invest very heavily across the Americas. In fact, China today has provided more money to the region in recent years by way of loans than the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank combined. More…