China accuses US of 'bullying' Venezuela as Trump orders blockade

China has accused the US of "bullying" Venezuela, after Donald Trump ordered a "total and complete" blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.

In a phone call on Wednesday, China's foreign minister Wang Yi told his Venezuelan counterpart, Yvan Gil, that Beijing supported Caracas in defending its sovereignty. Mr Wang labelled Washington's military presence in the area - which includes the USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier and its support group - as "unilateral bullying".

"China believes the international community understands and supports Venezuela's position in defending its legitimate rights and interests," Mr Wang said. The message of support came as the US president declared late on Tuesday that he had ordered the "blockade" on oil tankers into and out of the South American country.

He said the US military would remain in place until Venezuela returns "all of the oil, land, and other assets that they previously stole from us". In the social media post following months of escalating tensions in the Caribbean, Mr Trump said Venezuela was surrounded by the "largest armada ever assembled in the history of South America".

"It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before - until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us," he said. The US military seized a Venezuelan oil tanker on 11 December, in an escalation of the crisis involving the country that is rich in fossil fuels.

Mr Trump's campaign has included more than two dozen strikes on boats in the both the Caribbean and the Pacific that the US says were trafficking drugs, killing at least 90 people. Mr Trump has repeatedly accused Caracas of using boats to smuggle drugs into the US, defending American actions as being in the interest of national security.

The US has released no evidence to support its assertions that those killed in the boats were "narco-terrorists.