Trying? Foothold? They are past that.
Venezuela has received $5bn (£3.4bn) in financing from China, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says....
Mr Maduro visited Beijing in January and said at the time that China would invest more than $20bn in Venezuela....
Loans by China's state-owned banks to Latin American countries rose by 71% to $22bn (£14bn) in 2014, according to estimates published by the China-Latin America Finance Database.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-32381250
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Xi said on Thursday China would invest $250bn in Latin American countries over the next decade. The move is part of an attempt by Beijing to boost its influence in a region that tends to look to the US as its largest trading partner.
Beijing has extended $50bn of credit to Venezuela since 2007, mostly in exchange for oil shipments. The country exports about 600,000 barrels of oil to China a day, nearly half of which go towards repaying its loans.
“Mr Maduro visited Beijing in January and said at the time that China would invest more than $20bn in Venezuela....”
This will work out as well for China as the investments it made in N. Korea. That is to say it will line the pockets of a few and the country will be no better off.