Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is to meet his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao after vowing a huge increase in oil exports to China that would scale back dependence on the US market.
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Chavez, one of the world's most vocal critics of US President George W. Bush's administration, repeated his intention to make China one of Venezuela's biggest markets and lessen his nation's economic reliance on Washington.
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"We will convert ourselves into one of the large oil exporters to the Chinese giant," Chavez told Venezuelan state television during his high-profile six-day visit with Chinese officials here.
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"On the whole, production will increase in such a way that we will manage to export half a million crude barrels (a day to China) in the five next years," Chavez said.
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Venezuela, the fifth biggest exporter of oil in the world, currently delivers 150,000 barrels per day to China, compared with 1.5 million barrels it exports to the United States.
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Chavez said agreements would be signed with state-owned China National Petroleum Corp and China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec) on Thursday to jointly exploit his country's oil-rich Orinoco region.
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He said he was excited about building a strategic alliance with China and said the two nations were expected to sign nine agreements on Thursday when he meets with Hu.
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"We are building the future. I am very heartened -- it is our fourth visit to China. Each visit is a step forward ... that is to say, a true alliance," he said.
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Among the contracts expected to be signed are a deal to build 18 tankers to carry Venezuelan crude to China, and 12 drilling rigs to help Venezuela boost its production capacity.
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Chavez's statements backed up his country's offer earlier this month to export between 500,000 and one million barrels of oil a day to China if it reached a goal of producing 5.8 million barrels of crude by 2012.
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Chavez said that during the first day of his trip to China on Wednesday he had met with company officials from the telecommunications, oil tanker and building construction industries.
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While Chavez looks to China as an alternative market to the United States, observers have said the arrangement is beneficial to Beijing because it wants to diversify its imports away from the volatile Middle East.
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However some Chinese analysts have questioned whether the deal would be worth it, due to the higher costs associated with Venezuelan oil.
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Aside from the extra expense of the long distance for shipping, Venezuelan crude is heavier than most of the Middle Eastern varieties, making it more costly to refine.
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Venezuela meanwhile appears willing to accept a three-dollar discount per barrel of oil it exports to China caused by longer shipping times and increased insurance payments, according to analysts.
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"It's a slightly higher cost on both sides but I also believe it's in the long-term interest of both countries to develop their relationship," said Mark Daniell, a Singapore-based oil analyst with consultancy Cuscaden Group.
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As well as looking to broker energy deals, Chavez took time out on Wednesday to hail China's economic model as an alternative to the US capitalist approach.
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Chavez praised China for being able, in less than half a century, to leave behind a "practically feudal" society and turn itself into one of the world's largest economies.
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"It's an example for western leaders and governments that claim capitalism is the only alternative," he said.
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"We've been manipulated to believe that the first man on the moon was the most important event of the 20th century.
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"But no, much more important things happened, and one of the greatest events of the 20th century was the Chinese revolution."
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Chavez was due to meet with Hu around 5:00 pm (0900 GMT) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
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After his six-day China trip, Chavez will travel to Malaysia and Angola. — AFP
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is to meet his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao after vowing a huge increase in oil exports to China that would scale back dependence on the US market.
.
Chavez, one of the world's most vocal critics of US President George W. Bush's administration, repeated his intention to make China one of Venezuela's biggest markets and lessen his nation's economic reliance on Washington.
.
"We will convert ourselves into one of the large oil exporters to the Chinese giant," Chavez told Venezuelan state television during his high-profile six-day visit with Chinese officials here.
.
"On the whole, production will increase in such a way that we will manage to export half a million crude barrels (a day to China) in the five next years," Chavez said.
.
Venezuela, the fifth biggest exporter of oil in the world, currently delivers 150,000 barrels per day to China, compared with 1.5 million barrels it exports to the United States.
.
Chavez said agreements would be signed with state-owned China National Petroleum Corp and China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec) on Thursday to jointly exploit his country's oil-rich Orinoco region.
.
He said he was excited about building a strategic alliance with China and said the two nations were expected to sign nine agreements on Thursday when he meets with Hu.
.
"We are building the future. I am very heartened -- it is our fourth visit to China. Each visit is a step forward ... that is to say, a true alliance," he said.
.
Among the contracts expected to be signed are a deal to build 18 tankers to carry Venezuelan crude to China, and 12 drilling rigs to help Venezuela boost its production capacity.
