Chavez hails oil cooperation with China, blasts US.

BEIJING (AP) - China and Venezuela hailed rising oil exports and growing energy cooperation during a visit to Beijing by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez that lent him a new platform from which to criticize Washington.
Chavez said oil exports to China could soar to 1 million barrels a day by 2012, up from 330,000 per day now. The two sides also plan to build four oil tankers and to construct three oil refineries in China capable of processing Venezuela's heavy, sulfur-laden crude.
"While the world enters an energy crisis, we are investing," Chavez said.
Venezuela regards China as a key link in its strategy of diversifying oil sales away from the U.S., which still buys about half of Venezuela's oil despite years of political tensions.
On arrival in Beijing on Tuesday, Chavez said Venezuela would demand respect from the U.S. and others.
"We're no longer the backyard of the United States," he said.More.