Chávez Woos Reluctant Beijing Over U.N. Bid

By Shai Oster
August 22, 2006
The Wall Street Journal
Original Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115618223615041190.html

BEIJING -- Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez arrives in China Tuesday on a six-day tour to drum up support for his bid for a nonpermanent seat on the United Nations Security Council as he tries to deepen oil ties with Beijing.
The trip comes as some people in the U.S. are worried by China's growing role in Latin America, where it is gaining access to important oil and mineral resources.
China's soaring energy needs have brought it closer to Venezuela. Beijing's imports of Venezuelan crude oil jumped 40% in June from a year earlier. Mr. Chávez has said he wants to increase oil sales to China, to 200,000 barrels a day from about 150,000 barrels.
Mr. Chávez has also said he wants to buy supertankers and oil-drilling equipment from China, and he has invited Chinese companies to look for oil in his country.
The U.S. fears Mr. Chávez would use a seat on the Security Council, frequently held by a Latin American country, as a platform for anti-American rhetoric. The U.S. supports Guatemala for the seat.
Mr. Chávez's trip includes Malaysia and Angola. He has been trying to move Venezuela away from dependence on the U.S., turning toward countries like China, Russia and Iran for arms and trade. He has accused the U.S. of trying to overthrow him during a nationwide strike in 2002 and 2003. Despite the friction, the U.S. remains the top buyer of oil from Venezuela, the world's fifth-biggest exporter.
Zhang Yao, a researcher at Shanghai Institute for International Studies, says that while the China would never comment on Mr. Chávez's antagonism toward the U.S., many people in the country respect his position. Privately, many Chinese people [admire] him, Mr. Zhang says. After all, few people would dare to stand up to the U.S. like he has.
But it's unclear if Mr. Chávez will achieve what he'd like from his China visit. Beijing isn't keen to support Venezuela's U.N. bid, analysts say. Beijing has kept a relatively low profile on the Security Council and may not want to be seen helping him hector the U.S., China's key trading and strategic partner, on issues such as containing North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
There are also doubts about how much oil Mr. Chávez can pledge to supply. Analysts say Chinese refiners are limited in how much more of the particularly thick Venezuelan crude oil they can process. Buying more crude from Venezuela would require extensive upgrades to their facilities. Instead, they could buy more from Africa or Central Asia.
More crucially, Venezuela's oil production has been declining because of the opposition-led strike and other factors. Output has fallen to an estimated 1.6 million barrels a day, compared with nearly 3 million barrels in 1998.
--Tang Hanting in Shanghai contributed to this article.