Venezuela intervention may encourage China and Russia, warns Emily Thornberry

“The Daily Baku” reports that, a senior Labour MP has warned that the absence of strong western criticism of the US military intervention in Venezuela could embolden China and Russia to carry out similar actions elsewhere.

Emily Thornberry, chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, said that without a firm and coordinated response to Donald Trump’s decision to remove Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and transfer him to the United States, long-standing norms of international law risk being undermined.

Neither Keir Starmer nor members of his cabinet have condemned the operation. Speaking on Monday, the home affairs minister, Mike Tapp, said it was up to Washington “to set out the legal justification” for its actions, adding that it was too early for the UK to reach a definitive position.

Thornberry said she was also concerned that the US appeared to have given insufficient thought to what would follow Maduro’s seizure on Saturday and his transfer to New York.

In an interview with Times Radio, she said: “My central concern is that there is no legal basis for this action, and it establishes a dangerous precedent for countries such as China and Russia. They may well conclude: ‘We have our own spheres of influence – why shouldn’t we act similarly within them, whether in Ukraine or Taiwan?’”

She added: “It becomes very difficult to argue against that logic when the United States has acted in this way and faced no consequences and very little criticism, particularly from western governments.”

Thornberry said that even symbolic condemnation from allies plays an important role in restraining state behaviour. “International law works in part because states broadly accept certain standards of conduct, and when those standards are breached, there is collective disapproval,” she said.

“Governments often claim they don’t care about criticism, but in reality they do – and that pressure helps uphold international norms.”

Without such condemnation, she warned, “international law begins to shift”, making actions that were once unacceptable appear increasingly normal.

Earlier on Monday, speaking to Sky News, Tapp said more clarity on the government’s position was expected later in the day, when the foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, was due to address the Commons.

“At this stage, we are not unhappy that Maduro is no longer in power,” Tapp said. “We fully support an international rules-based system, but we are not going to rush to judgement under pressure from social media or commentators. This is about diplomacy and engagement with our allies, including the United States.”

Thornberry stopped short of directly criticising Starmer, saying she recognised the importance of maintaining strong ties with Washington. “This is clearly a difficult situation, and the US is a vital ally,” she said. “There are also Ukraine’s interests to consider. But support for international law has to mean something.”

She argued, however, that the UK needed to be explicit in stating that the operation constituted a breach of international law. “You cannot simply abduct foreign leaders, bring them before domestic courts and expect the system to hold,” she said. “That path leads to disorder.”

Meanwhile, speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she neither condemned nor endorsed the US action.

“What President Trump has done is highly unconventional,” she said. “I won’t condemn it because I don’t want someone like Maduro in power, but I won’t applaud it either. It raises serious questions about the kind of world we are moving towards.”