Nicolas Maduro's last act as Venezuelan President was a meeting with Chinese officials — watch video

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's capture by US forces on Donald Trump's orders has sparked global criticism, including allegations of imperialism against Washington, which has openly declared its intention to let US firms develop the South American nation's vast oil reserves.

Among those who harshly criticized the US was China, and incidentally, Maduro's last appearance on state television prior to his capture showed him meeting Chinese officials.

Hours before the US launched Operation Absolute Resolve, Maduro was seen on state television meeting Qiu Xiaoqi, a special representative on Latin American affairs of the Xi Jinping-led Chinese government.

The meeting, as per the Andalou news agency, took place at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas, with Maduro saying on Telegram, "I had a pleasant meeting with Qiu Xiaoqi, Special Envoy of President Xi Jinping."

"We reaffirmed our commitment to the strategic relationship that is progressing and strengthening in various areas for building a multipolar world of development and peace," Maduro was quoted as saying after the meeting.

Shortly afterwards, US forces, reportedly top-tier Delta Force operators, took Maduro into custody as the Trump administration launched "large scale" strikes against Venezuela.

It is unclear what happened to the Chinese delegation that was in Venezuela.

How China reacted

China sharply criticized the Trump administration following Maduro's capture, with Beijing decrying what it called a "brazen use of force against a sovereign state and its actions directed at its president".

"Such hegemonic acts of the US seriously violate international law and Venezuela’s sovereignty, and threaten peace and security in Latin America and the Caribbean region. China firmly opposes it," a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Economic rivals for long, the rivalry between China and the US has taken on a new dimension of late, with both countries striving to be the leader in the global race on the development of artificial intelligence (AI), which requires massive amounts of energy.

US eyes oil reserves

Shortly after Maduro's capture, Trump announced that US corporations would be tapping into Venezuela's oil reserves, believed to be the largest in the world at an estimated 300 billion barrels.

“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure and start making money for the country,” Trump said during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago, adding, "They were pumping almost nothing by comparison to what they could have been.”

Trump further said that the US would maintain a military presence in Venezuela to protect oil operations.

“We’re going to have presence in Venezuela as it pertains to oil, because we have to have, we were sending our expertise in,” he said.