WSJ: China opposing U.S. in South America

As United States forces remain in position to strike the regime of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, the Wall Street Journal and others are recognizing that the conflict actually involves China. In December, the U.S. Navy enacted a quarantine of sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers, but China called the action a blockade that violates international law. In an article posted yesterday, the Journal pointed out that “Beijing recently sent a provocative message when state media showed a war game simulation in the Western Hemisphere.” Why is China intervening in a seemingly unrelated struggle 10,000 miles away? In the last eight years, 24 South American nations have joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and many of them conduct more trade with China than with any other nation. China has invested tens of billions to replace American influence, and its intervention in the Western Hemisphere is prophesied to culminate in a siege of America.