Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to talk about Venezuela in the context of energy and in the great power competition between the United States and the People's Republic of China.
You mentioned in your opening statement and throughout your testimony that Venezuela sits on huge oil reserves. I believe they are the largest oil reserves in the world. I think almost a fifth of the oil reserves in the world are in Venezuela. You also pointed out that production plummeted because of the pillaging of oil resources by the Maduro regime.
My understanding is that China holds about $12 billion U.S. in Venezuelan debt and that China was being paid for that debt not with cash or money, but with discounted shipments of Venezuelan oil. I understand from reports that oil was discounted by as much as $20 a barrel by the Maduro regime to pay for China's loan to Venezuela. That flow of oil and those payments in the form of oil have obviously stopped.
Could you talk a bit about what the Government of Canada's assessment is in how this impacts the great power competition between the United States and the People's Republic of China in this hemisphere, particularly as it relates to Venezuela?