Commentary
China is thumbing its nose at U.S. sanctions on Venezuela and Iran; so far, the Biden administration does nothing about it. According to Reuters, China is now using front companies—at least one unregistered and another a major defense contractor—to run illegal oil from Venezuela to the mainland.
Starting in August 2019, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) honored the U.S. sanctions due to fears of secondary sanctions that would affect its global operations. But the oil kept flowing via smaller Chinese companies that transshipped in Malaysian waters, and then falsely labeled the crude “Malaysian” before receiving it in China….