This isn't really exactly only about Venezuela though is it? It's about who Venezuela was threatening to invade (Guyana) and Venezuela troop buildup resulting in UK ship presence and ultimately further calls for US help. The unspoken and underreported issue is that Guyana - a massive area for basically unregulated gold and other sorts of extraction - was about to get overrun by Venezuela and the U.S. got called in. Maduro continued to saber rattle, meanwhile the U.S. government shutdown made the entire apparatus look even weaker (and it is structurally weak and fundamentally unsound). Seeing all this, the Chinese (themselves having their own problems and internal divisions) prepared for imminent invasion of Taiwan. The Chinese may think the USA is stretched too thin to help Taiwan out of they try for a rapid border incursion. We will see what happens in the coming days.