‘ADVERSARIES SHOCKED’: Gen. Keane on why China is REELING after US action

Joining me now is Fox News senior strategic analyst and chairman of the Institute for the Study of War, General Jack Keane. Back with us. General, happy New Year. Good to see you this morning.

Thank you for being here, sir.

Yeah, happy New Year, Maria.

What's your reaction to all of this, General?

Well, as we indicated, it's a brilliant, remarkable operation, you know, truly to remove a criminal and a thug and a killer who's been repressing his people for 14 years, falling on the heels of Chávez for 13 years—this is 27 years that the people in Venezuela have suffered. Eight million of them have left the country and the economy is in a tank, and they're big-time cartel owners and narco-traffickers. So completely justified in doing what we're doing.

And I think the president and his team has made some pretty solid decisions here. narco-traffickers, so completely justified in doing what we're doing.

And I think the president and his team has made some pretty solid decisions here. I mean, the big decision was to capture and extract Maduro. Obviously, they could have killed him at that compound. That would have been the easier military operation, considerably less challenging. But this was the right thing to do, and it's got the president and the United States on a moral high ground as a result of it.

The second decision is not to become the occupiers of Venezuela. That would have put troops on the ground to diminish and make certain that the military was held in check, as Apu and also the minister of Intia Cabello and all the thugs and killers and gangs from Colombia that work with him to suppress the people. What we are doing here is using intimidation and coercion with the incumbent government,

knowing what we did with Maduro—they saw it happen—and knowing if we can find Maduro and track him on a daily basis, we know where these three leaders are—the vice president, the minister of defense and the minister of interior. They control the power structure and we're using that intimidation and coercion to bend them to our will, to a political objective, to transition to elections and a democratic form of government. And by the way, so our viewers understand, we are not nation-building here in Venezuela.

There's an existing democratic structure that has been in the country since 1958, albeit the current leaders have taken control of that and abused it, obviously, quite significantly. But a legislative body, the National Assembly, a Supreme Court, an executive branch and a civil society that used to flourish in support of its government and in support of democratic ideals. That will all come back at some point.

But right now, the administration is looking to stability. They also want security. And that means no more narco-trafficking. Cabello and his goons and thugs, stop repressing the people. They've already done some of that by curtailing any sense of celebration that the people would likely want to do.

But when the goons and thugs roam in the streets, they're not about to do that, because they know what they've done in the past. They kill them. And they've also arrested some journalists. All that remains to be seen. This is—I think is the right path we're on, but it's going to be trial and error

here. I mean, this is an incumbent socialist communist regime that has repressed its people for 14

years.

Yeah, absolutely. But it's better than occupying the country with military forces and all the challenges that that would imply in terms of rebuilding a government.

Right.

And that's— We've got to see if these people are willing to fully cooperate with us.

And that's been the criticism of this whole operation, right? The idea that there's this speculation that the U.S. is going to be in there running this. This is temporary. When President Trump says the U.S. is in charge, but our adversaries are surprised, shocked. I mean, China is condemning Maduro's capture. A top Chinese diplomat accusing the U.S. of acting like, quote, a world judge.

China has been a strong ally of Maduro. He's been propping up the Venezuelan regime. The dictator meeting with the Beijing envoy just hours before the capture. That I thought was just so stunning, the fact that Maduro was in a meeting with a Chinese delegation hours before the U.S. snatched him from the palace. thought was just so stunning, the fact that Maduro was in a meeting with a Chinese delegation hours before the US snatched him from the palace.

China is carrying out a strike meanwhile of live military drills against Taiwan, did so last week, increasing its threats to take over the island nation. Officials warn that China may attempt a similar operation as what the US carried out in Venezuela now, General. Your thoughts on the impact and what this does for China?

Well, first of all, I don't buy into the nonsense that somehow this is going to inspire China to take immediate action in Taiwan, because somehow there's some moral justification for them. The fact is, Taiwan is an independent democratic nation, and the reality of Russia and Ukraine is much the same, an independent democratic nation that they have seized and want to control. If Taiwan—if China moves on Taiwan, what do they want to do with it?

They don't want to stand up to government and improve it. They want to take control of it and make it part of China. A communist Chinese party will control it. That's completely different than what President Trump does. He wants this—this is an illegal regime that committed a fraudulent election and blew it away.

We want to return to a democratic state. And of course, people who are seeing that somehow this benefits China don't want to deal with the obvious facts and what's so different about those? President Xi has his own schedule in terms of what he's going to do. We got to take him serious. He is threatening to take over Taiwan.

And I think we take that seriously. I believe our government is taking that seriously. But I don't see the correlation here. Now look at this is a setback for China, for Russia, for Iran, and for Cuba inside of Venezuela. And writ large, things are going to change in the region, believe me Maria, as a result of the United States standing up to the

socialist leftist regimes that are imposing their will not only on their own people, but also imposing destruction on the United States through narco-trafficking and distribution of fentanyl. So, yes, I think we're going to see things change in the region as a result of it. China has a presence in every Latin American and South American country.

That's going to continue. But the degree of influence, I believe, as a result of the United States stepping forward and saying, we are taking a real interest in this hemisphere and we are not going to put up with regimes that are imposing their will on their people and also impacting the security and safety of the American people. You put those two things together, the United States is going to take a stand.

And that message is loud and clear.

Yeah, and I love the fact that it has all of these indirect impacts to so many adversaries. China being number one because it was such an ally and is such an ally of Maduro. But then there's Iran. The Supreme Leader of Iran reportedly ready to flee to Russia if his military and security forces fail to control anti-regime protests across Tehran. These protests were going on even before the capture of Maduro.

At least 35 people have reportedly been killed as civilians rally against the government and the country's failing economy. General, we talked about this in the past. It seems like the people are now rising up against this regime. Your reaction to what's taking place in Iran now? And do you think that he could flee to Russia?

Well, the fact that that has leaked out demonstrates certainly their concern. This regime, we can't overstate how weak Iran is as a result of what took place in June with the Israeli attack and the decisive blow that the United States did to their nuclear enterprise. Certainly, they are very weaker militarily and obviously economically, which is what's brought these people into the streets with 42% inflation.

That's hard to get your head around. And also the real, their currency is down by 50%. It's in the tank. So people are truly, truly suffering here. And that's what has brought them in the tank so people are truly truly suffering here and that's what has brought them in the streets the demonstrations aren't as large as the ones in 22 and 19 but they are real and listen they the president has stepped

forward here unlike Obama who stood back from the demonstrations in 2009 the president has said you go out and Samaritan kill these people you're gonna have to deal with me I think they take that seriously. And that's what produced the idea, in my mind, that Khomeini, the Supreme Leader, may indeed have to leave the country. So this remains to be seen what's going to take place here.

We've been down this road before. But hopefully it does put so much pressure on the regime that there is a possibility of a change. We've had these aspirations in them before and it's never happened in 44 years.

Wow, unbelievable.

But nonetheless, the fact that Iranian people are standing up here and willing to risk their lives and think about what that's like. When you go into the street, given what's happened in the past, you're risking your life and they're willing to do that. And that is just such a tremendous testimony to how opposed they are to the regime.

And the president has said he stands with the people of Iran, he is taking care of every adversary one by one. Incredible. General, it's great to talk with you this morning. Thank you, sir.

Yeah, great talking to you, Maria, as always.

Thank you. General Jack Keane. General Jack Keane.

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