title: China confident Venezuela can handle debt issue
text: BEIJING (Reuters) - China s Foreign Ministry reiterated on Thursday that it believes Venezuela has the ability to handle its debt issue, after the oil-rich country started making interest payments on bonds following a delay that had threatened to trigger a default. Venezuela has borrowed billions of dollars from Russia and China, primarily through oil-for-loan deals that have crimped the country s hard currency revenue by requiring oil shipments to be used to service those loans.  On Wednesday, Venezuela won easier debt terms from Russia, as well as a vote of confidence from China - two countries that could provide a lifeline as Caracas seeks to keep its deeply depressed economy solvent. Asked whether China was concerned that the debt would not be repaid, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular news briefing that China-Venezuela financial cooperation was proceeding as normal.  We believe that Venezuela s government and people have the ability to properly handle their debt issue,  Geng said.  Venezuelan bond prices have been on a roller-coaster over the past 10 days, as President Nicolas Maduro called investors to debt restructuring talks, while pledging to keep honoring the country s obligations. But S&P Global Ratings declared it in selective default on two of its sovereign bonds early this week after it failed to make the coupons within a 30-day grace period. On Wednesday, the country s Economy Ministry said it had started transferring $200 million in interest payments on those bonds, which mature in 2019 and 2024. 