On April 15, 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to Nicolas Maduro on his winning the Venezuelan presidency.

In his message, Xi said with the joint efforts of the leaders of both sides, China-Venezuela relations have been developing remarkably since the two countries forged strategic partnership of common development in 2001. "China and Venezuela have become good friends of mutual trust and good partners of close cooperation," he said. Xi stressed the great importance he attached to developing ties with Venezuela, adding China is willing to join hands with Venezuela to carry forward bilateral ties into the future and open up new prospects for the relations.