China will be patient and play the long game as it views the new geopolitical chessboard, recalibrating carefully in the wake of US President Donald Trumps move on Saturday to decapitate Venezuelas leadership, analysts said.In a daring predawn raid, US forces descended on ousted Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and airlifted him shackled and blindfolded to New York to face charges of narcoterrorism conspiracy and illegal weapons trafficking.China is likely to thread this needle effectively. Beijing will condemn US actions, said Bonnie Glaser, vice-president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. But I doubt that China will do much more than that. Venezuela isnt among Chinas core interests, and there is more downside than upside to taking actions that would complicate Trumps ability to achieve a win.In part, this wait-and-see strategy is wise, analysts said, especially given how much uncertainty and contradictory developments are coming out of Venezuela. These include questions over the countrys future leadership, what form of government will follow, how much Washington will be involved in governance and how big a role the nations long-suffering opposition will have.Pro-government, armed civilians at a protest in Caracas, Venezuela, on Sunday. Photo: APTrump provided something of a blueprint for his view of the region when he released his National Security Strategy last month that espoused an aggressive Trump corollary to the 1823 Monroe Doctrine, which two centuries ago warned foreign nations to stay out of the western hemisphere.