Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez met Chinese President Hu Jintao Wednesday in Beijing, where he told the Chinese leader the power in the world has now shifted to China.
In his meeting with Mr. Hu, the Venezuelan leader said "no one can be ignorant that the center of gravity in the world has moved to Beijing."
Mr. Chavez called China "the biggest motor driving the world" during the global financial crisis, which he referred to as a crisis of international capitalism.
The comments reflect remarks Mr. Chavez made to reporters after arriving in China on Tuesday. He said "a new world order" was being created, with power shifting from the United States to countries such as China, Iran and Japan.
Mr. Chavez visited Iran last week and Japan earlier this week before traveling to China. The Venezuelan leader has been a fierce critic of U.S. power.
Mr. Chavez's visit to China is his sixth to the Asian nation, where he is hoping to secure more oil deals to reduce his country's economic dependence on the United States.
His goals include building Venezuelan refineries on Chinese soil and boosting exports of Venezuelan oil to China from 380,000 barrels a day last year to one million barrels by 2013.
In his earlier stop in Japan, Mr. Chavez said Tokyo had agreed to invest $33.5 billion in oil and gas projects in Venezuela.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.