WASHINGTON šC Donald Trump¡¯s decision to impose a partial blockade on Venezuela marks a dramatic escalation in U.S. pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, but it also risks undermining a top U.S. policy goal: deterring a potential Chinese naval encirclement of Taiwan.
The U.S. president on Tuesday ordered the ¡°total and complete blockade¡± of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, a move aimed at choking the Maduro government¡¯s main source of income. But the action immediately raised questions under international law about whether it amounts to an act of war.
In the Indo-Pacific, military planners have long feared that China might use a naval blockade to coerce democratically governed Taiwan to accept Beijing¡¯s rule.
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