Maduro's capture reminds China of its darkest fears

Beijing may interpret US op as push for regime change, bolstering its belief that might is right

- Yew Lun Tian Senior Correspondent

One video doing the rounds shows Maduro in August 2025 at the Venezuelan embassy in Beijing, proudly brandishing a foldable Huawei phone gifted by Chinese President Xi Jinping. At the time, he declared that it was the best phone in the world, unhackable by the Americans.

“Not so safe after all,” quipped one commentator on WeChat.

The online levity belied a solemn pondering behind closed doors. If the United States could pluck a sitting president out of Caracas, should other strongman leaders be they in Pyongyang or Moscow worry about a similar fate if they were to one day find themselves in Washington's crosshairs?

China's security, technological and military capabilities are far beyond Venezuela's, making it almost unthinkable that the US would attempt such an audacious operation on another nuclear-armed state. Still, the capture of Maduro taps into Beijing's deepest political fear: regime change.

That unease was sharpened during US President Donald Trump's first term, when senior US officials, including then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, cast the rivalry as one between the “free world” and the Communist Party of China language Beijing took as hinting at a desire to see the party displaced.

Around the same period, China was warily watching anti-Beijing protests unfold in Hong Kong, as senior leaders repeatedly warned of the dangers of “colour revolutions”, or what Beijing said were popular uprisings instigated or exploited by foreign forces to undermine Communist Party rule.

Although US officials have since assured Beijing that they do not seek regime change, Beijing treats such assurances with caution.