James Kynge

So I think you're absolutely right, Alice.

I think although it's easy to be captured and caught up with this idea of this unbelievable, overwhelming lightning strike that the American military launched on Madero to take him out of Venezuela and be swept away by a sense of U.S.

dominance, but underneath the hood, as it were,

China's tentacles are so deeply embedded into the economies of Latin America, South America.

And it's just not going to be that easy for America to take its hemisphere back.

You know, it's just not going to be that easy.

It will be, in my view, a long run battle.

Some forward steps by China, some backward steps by the U.S.

and vice versa for several years to come.

Absolutely.

I think there must be policy thinkers, policymakers in Beijing, particularly in the foreign policy area, that are wondering whether their strategy for the last decade or more, in fact, more than two decades, of undermining US power in the world by allying themselves with

effectively rivals of the US, such as Iran and Venezuela and some of the other ones that you've mentioned.

I think that there must be policymakers that are wondering about the wisdom of that policy now that we see what's happening in Venezuela, Iran, and potentially in some of the other countries too.

This really is a big setback for Chinese foreign policy goals.

Mikhail, thanks so much for joining us.

We're really lucky to have you on.

I know this is a fast moving picture and I know you've been following it very closely.

Could you set us up by just telling us what the situation is?

The U.S.

has said that it will control sales of Venezuelan oil exports.