Beijing: Beijing has fired back at the US after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticised China's role in Venezuela.
China's foreign ministry said on Monday that Pompeo's accusations were "unfounded" and "deliberately drove a wedge" between China and Latin America.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang accused the US of treating Latin America like "its own backyard to pressure, threaten and even subvert political power in other countries at every turn."
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Pompeo on last Friday said that China's financing of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's regime helped "precipitate and prolong" the country's crisis.
US President Donald Trump's administration, which recognizes opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim president, has been trying to remove Maduro from power. China, meanwhile, is a close ally of Maduro and has urged other countries to not intervene in Venezuela's affairs.
Lu also confirmed China has raised complaints to WTO about Australia's restrictions on Chinese 5G technology and said Australia's "close-door approach" will only hurt itself.
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Australia last year banned China's Huawei Technologies from providing equipment for its 5G network out of national security concerns.
In response to India's choice not to attend the upcoming Belt and Road Forum because India sees China violated India's sovereignty, Lu said the BRI was originally proposed as an economic cooperation and "has no intention to interfere in the so-called territorial or maritime dispute of any party."
