Beijing, March 13 (IANS): The practice of the US continuing sanctions on Venezuela while countries around the world are jointly fighting the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic goes against the basic humanitarian spirit, Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang made the remarks at a press conference when asked about Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's speech on Thursday, saying the US sanctions have severely affected Venezuela's domestic epidemic prevention efforts and calling on the US to immediately lift the unfair and unlawful sanctions against his country, Xinhua reported.

It is well known that US sanctions on Venezuela have severely worsened the country's economy and people's livelihood, causing problems including difficulties for Venezuelan people in getting medical services, Geng said.

At this critical moment when governments and people of all countries are jointly fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. practice of continuing to wield the big stick of sanctions on Venezuela goes against the basic humanitarian spirit, he said.

China has always called for the peaceful settlement of the Venezuelan issue through dialogue as soon as possible and creating conditions for the normal development of Venezuela, Geng said, adding that China opposes interference in other countries' domestic affairs, unilateral sanctions and the so-called "long-arm jurisdiction."

"We call on the United States to work with the international community, stop interfering in Venezuela's internal affairs as soon as possible and lift unilateral sanctions, to benefit the peace, stability and development of Venezuela," Geng said.