Venezuela Says China Backs UN Security Council Bid That U.S. Opposes

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced after his meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing that China had expressed support for Venezuela's bid to join the United Nations Security Council. The U.S. is seeking to block Venezuela's bid for a seat and is backing Guatemala instead.

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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday he is planning to increase oil exports to China over the next decade to one million barrels per day.

Chavez made the announcement after holding talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing. Venezuela is the world's fifth-biggest oil exporter and the move is seen as an important step to reduce its dependence on oil exports to the United States.

But the alliance between China and Venezuela goes beyond just energy. Chavez told reporters after his meeting that President Hu Jintao had expressed support for Venezuela's bid to join the United Nations Security Council.

Five of the ten rotating seats on the Council open up in October, one of them is traditionally reserved for a Latin American country. The United States is seeking to block Venezuela's bid for a seat and is backing Guatemala instead. The race between the two countries is to be decided by the General Assembly in a secret ballot in October.

China is the second of the council's five permanent, veto-wielding members to back Venezuela. Chavez won Russia's support last month. Chavez said China's backing for the seat was "very important from the political and moral point of view."

• Mark Weisbrot, co-director at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC.
  - Read Mark's article: Latin America: The End of an Era