Venezuela attack could embolden China and Russia, says Emily Thornberry | Foreign policy
A senior Labor MP has warned that lack of Western condemnation of the US military intervention in Venezuela could embolden China and Russia to take similar actions against other countries.
Emily Thornberry, who chairs the House of Commons foreign affairs committee, said international legal norms could collapse unless there is a coherent and strong response to Donald Trump’s move over the weekend to depose Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and bring him to the United States.
Keir Starmer and his ministers did not condemn the operation. Speaking on Monday, Home Secretary Mike Tapp said the US needed to “establish a legal basis for its actions” and that it was not yet possible for the UK to have an opinion on the matter.
Thornberry said he was concerned that the United States did not plan for what would happen next after Maduro was kidnapped and flown to New York on Saturday.
He told Times Radio: “But my real problem is that there’s no legal basis for it anyway, and it sets a really bad precedent for countries like China and Russia. Those countries might think: ‘Well, we’ve got spheres of influence, why can’t we do things like that within our own spheres of influence, like Ukraine or Taiwan?’
“And given that America has done this, with no consequences and very little criticism, at least from western governments, it’s pretty hard to say they can’t do it.”
Even without any other punitive actions, condemnations from allies have made countries think twice, Thornberry said. “To some extent the strength of international law is that people generally accept that you have to behave that way, and if you don’t behave that way then there is international condemnation.
“[It] It might not sound like a big deal, but governments always say they don’t care, but they do care. “They care about this very much and there just needs to be certain international norms.”
Without any condemnation, he said that “international law has almost begun to advance” and such actions have become more acceptable.
Speaking to Sky News earlier on Monday, Tapp said further details of the government’s response would be revealed in a Commons statement expected by Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper on Monday afternoon.
“At this point we’ve reached this point. [Maduro] “We are no longer in office, we have 100% respect for an international rules-based system and legality, and we are not pressured by social media and commentators to be quick to respond,” he said. “This is about diplomacy. “It’s about talking to our allies and the United States.”
Thornberry did not openly criticize Starmer in his interview and said he understood the need to maintain relations with the US. “I’m not going to pretend that this isn’t difficult, and it’s important that we keep a very important ally like America on our side,” he said. “We need to take into account Ukraine’s interests in particular. But if we do not support international law, this means nothing.”
But he said the UK should have made clearer that “this is a breach of international law and we do not agree that they should do this”. He added: “You can’t kidnap leaders from different countries, take them to your local courts and try them, that will only result in anarchy.”
Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she would not condemn or condone US action. He said: “What President Trump has done is absolutely unorthodox. I don’t blame it because I don’t want to see someone like Maduro in office, but I don’t praise it because I think it raises a lot of interesting questions about the world we live in.”
