area director of the ADL played down the parallels between Israel and Nazi Germany highlighted by Chavez, accusing him of "distorting history and torturing the truth, as he has done in this case, it is a dangerous exercise which echoes classic anti-Semitic themes." The president of the Miami-based right-wing Independent Venezuelan-American Citizens, said "That's what you expect from someone who surrounds himself with the dregs of the world. He seeks out terrorists and dictators. It's predictable that he wouldn't defend a democratic country like Israel." Jewish-Venezuelan community leaders in Caracas told El Nuevo Herald that Chávez's statements created a situation of "fear and discomfort... The president is not the president of a single group but of Venezuelan Jews as well." The Federation of Israeli Associations of Venezuela condemned what they claimed were "attempts to trivialize the Holocaust, the premeditated and systematic extermination of millions of human beings solely because they were Jews ... by comparing it with the current war actions." However, Israel's critics have hailed Chávez's actions. The vice-chairman of Hezbollah's political council, Mahmoud Komati, called his actions an example for "revolutionaries", and left-wing British MP George Galloway said that Chávez was a "real leader of the Arab people." Currently, in the wake of the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict, Venezuela has broken all diplomatic ties with the state of Israel; condemning its actions. On 27 April 2009, Venezuelan foreign minister Nicolas Maduro met with Palestinian National Authority foreign affairs minister Riyad al-Maliki in Caracas, where formal diplomatic relations were established between the two. During a visit by Syrian President Bashar Assad to Venezuela in June 2010, Chavez stated accused Israel is of being "the assassin arm of the United States" and that "one day the genocidal state of Israel will be put into its place." Taiwan Relations with Taiwan, which Venezuela holds no diplomatic relations since 1974, became strained because of the increasing partnership between the government of Hugo Chávez and the People's Republic of China, affecting Taiwanese businesses and citizens. In 2007, the Venezuelan government decided not to renew visas for five members of Taiwanese commercial representation in Caracas. Vietnam Vietnam and Venezuela set up diplomatic ties in 1989. Since 2006 Vietnam has had an embassy in Caracas and Venezuela an embassy in Hanoi. Though bilateral trade was $11.7 million in 2007 relations show "great potential". Over the past ten years, the two countries have witnessed new developments in