A woman I work with got word from her husband today that his ship is being sent to Venezuala for 60 days because the Chinese are "starting to throw their weight around down there." He didn't give her any other information or specifics - I don't think he knows anything else at this point. I did a google search for recent info & came up empty. I did find a diary by Georgia10 from Dec. 26th -
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/12/26/115228/07
which had a reply from Spiderleaf where a reference was made to the relationship between these 2 countries - "And finally, China is actively interested in securing oil from Venezuala and Chavez was in China in October for meetings to discuss how to do so." This makes it sound like a friendly alliance. Are we going just to protect our own interests or is trouble brewing?