The Chinese ambassador to Venezuela hailed the “great advances of socialism” at an event on Monday marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

Speaking at a commemorative event at a theater in the Fuerte Tuina region in Caracas, Ambassador Li Baorong stressed that the anniversary was an “important date for the Chinese people,” with mass celebrations taking place across China and at embassies throughout the world.

“Thanks to the leadership of the communist party, with the president of the Asian giant, Xi Jinping, we have made great progress, especially in the hard work of the people, with sacrifices we have found a path of development, through the great advances of socialism,” he said.

According to state propaganda outlet VTV, Li also pointed out that 2019 marks 45 years of official relations between the two countries and 20 years since late socialist dictator Hugo Chávez first visited Beijing. It is also five years since the two countries formed the China-Venezuela Integral Strategic Association, which aims to closen cooperation between the two far-left regimes.

“We have made great progress in these friendly relations, cooperations based on respect and success shared,” said Li, adding that the two countries have become “good friends with mutual trust and strong strategic partners of bilateral cooperation and shared success at a moment we are in a world of great uncertainty, there is also hegemonism, bullying, and unilateralism.”

Li’s comments regarding bullying and unilateralism were a reiteration of Beijing’s opposition to economic sanctions imposed by the United States against the Maduro dictatorship for its gross human rights abuses against its people, including the imprisonment, torture, and extrajudicial killing of political dissidents.

“We are convinced that the Venezuelan people are able to maintain peace and development stability, we strongly support it and we also believe that the issue of the situation in Venezuela can be resolved peacefully and negotiations within the framework of the Constitution and the Laws,” he said.

China has become a key backer of the Venezuelan regime in recent years, providing it with financial and diplomatic support as well as humanitarian assistance. However, there have been occasional signs of strain on the relationship over the Maduro regime’s inability to pay off its debts, most of which come in the form of cut-price oil payments.

Speaking at a similar event to mark 45 years of diplomatic relations between Venezuela and China, the regime’s Vice President Delcy Rodríguez declared that China, Russia, and Iran had become the “new north” of Venezuela’s foreign policy, effectively meaning they take their cues from those three countries.

“China-Venezuela relations had a very special momentum with Commander Hugo Chávez who oversaw a new world of justice and peace,” Rodríguez said at the time. “China, Russia, and Iran are the new north of Venezuela’s diplomatic relations.”

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