Deputy Defense Minister Hsu Szu-chien said the U.S. attack demonstrated that American weapons and equipment remain “unrivaled,” and stressed that Chinese defenses needed to be upgraded.
An unspoken message resonated after the operation to capture dictator Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores on January 3 in Caracas. It was a scam that the Chinese regime wants to conceal, and its origins date back to April 22, 2014. On that day, the dictatorship led by Maduro pompously signed the purchase of a Chinese-made radar system that would keep any external threat away from Venezuelan skies. At that time, it involved the acquisition of the first 26 radars and command posts, which have been updated since then.
Beijing promised absolute security for the Caribbean regime's airspace: it assured its Bolivarian counterparts that the JYL-1 system has a three-dimensional radar with a range of 320 kilometers, a detection altitude of 25,000 meters, and operates in the E and F bands, suitable for detecting military aircraft. On the other hand, the JY11B are highly mobile, transportable radars for low-altitude surveillance, with mechanical scanning and also operating in the E and F bands, but with a range of 210 km and a detection ceiling of 12,000 meters.
The Chinese regime—and the People's Liberation Army military—went even further in their promises: they said that these state-of-the-art systems would allow them to detect fifth-generation aircraft such as the American F-35 and F-22. None of that happened. The January military operation exposed the limitations of the defense systems imported by Venezuela to defend the dictator.
In particular, the failure of the technology supplied by China—and the abandonment by Russia—during the Delta Force mission in Caracas raised doubts about the effectiveness of these products in real combat situations. This is being discussed in Taiwan. International analysts indicated that after the successful operation, governments that were initially "amazed" by the technology promised by Beijing began to review the reliability of their own Chinese-made defenses. "It remains to be seen how the U.S. operation will affect Chinese sales of radar and other defense systems," said Micah McCartney, Newsweek correspondent in Taipei and expert on Chinese affairs.
The assault, codenamed Operation Absolute Resolve, involved the deployment of 150 U.S. aircraft and the use of electronic attacks and non-kinetic jamming to neutralize Venezuelan air defenses and capture Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in a fortified complex in Caracas. They were subsequently extradited to the United States, accused of conspiring to import cocaine into the country. Drug traffickers, without euphemisms.
The acquisition of Chinese and Russian military technology was significant. Venezuela had invested approximately $2 billion in Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missiles, which included support radars and communication systems integrated with the Chinese JY-27A radar. In addition, Moscow supplied Pantsir-S1 batteries, designed to neutralize drones and helicopters. None of the systems—neither the S-300s nor the Pantsir-S1s—fired a single shot. Meanwhile, the JY-27A radar, sold by China Electronics Technology Group Corp., was touted as a solution capable of detecting stealth aircraft at distances of nearly 400 kilometers. Beijing described it as mobile, resistant to electronic warfare, and reliable for long-range surveillance and guidance. However, these systems failed to identify the U.S. aircraft, allowing helicopters carrying special forces to reach the Venezuelan capital unopposed.
This setback was not the first for Chinese air defense technology. In May 2025, during the four-day conflict between India and Pakistan, the Chinese-made anti-aircraft defenses deployed by Pakistan also failed to prevent Indian bombings of multiple targets. Analysts noted that the inability of these Chinese missiles to protect Pakistani airspace damaged the reputation of Chinese arms exports: “The result was a negative image for the credibility of Beijing's defense products,” they told Reuters.
The loss of effectiveness of the imported radars and missiles proved particularly embarrassing for the foreign suppliers and exposed the disconnect between technological propaganda and performance in real combat situations. This was expressed by retired General Yu Tsung-chi, former president of the Political Warfare College at Taiwan's National Defense University, who stated that “a system that looks modern on paper and appears intimidating in propaganda falls apart under the demands of real combat.”
Taiwan's Deputy Minister of Defense, Hsu Szu-He spoke during a legislative hearing and said that the US attack demonstrated that American weapons and equipment remain “unmatched.” He also remarked that Chinese defenses needed to be upgraded. Are they obsolete, or did Beijing fail to deliver on its agreements? Or both? According to Reuters, Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow at the US-based Hudson Institute, summarized a concern shared by many governments, particularly in Latin America: “Any nation in the world that has Chinese defense equipment is reviewing its systems and wondering how secure they really are,” he said.
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