China says US violating law by seizing oil tankers off Venezuela

Bloomberg News on Dec 22, 2025

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China criticized the U.S. for seizing oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela, signaling it stands with Caracas as its confrontation with Washington intensifies.

“The U.S. practice of arbitrarily seizing other countries’ vessels grossly violates international law,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Monday. China opposed anything that “infringes upon other countries’ sovereignty and security, and all acts of unilateralism or bullying,” he added.

The comments come as the U.S. pursues a third oil tanker, intensifying a blockade that the Trump administration hopes will cut off a vital economic lifeline for the country and isolate the government of President Nicolás Maduro.

State-owned Petróleos de Venezuela SA ships most of its cargoes to China, usually through intermediaries using so-called dark-fleet tankers — older vessels with obscure ownership that ferry sanctioned oil from Venezuela as well as Iran and Russia.

“Venezuela has the right to independently develop mutually beneficial cooperation with other countries,” Lin said, and Beijing supported Caracas in “defending its own legitimate rights and interests.”

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—With assistance from Qianwei Zhang.