China and Venezuela signed an agreement for the South American country to provide a million barrels of oil a day to China by the year 2019, with China promising to help Venezuela join the United Nations security council. China's growing economy makes them the second-largest oil consumer in the world, and Venezuela's president Hugo Chávez wants to reduce his country's dependence on the United States as a customer. The United States is the world's largest oil consumer, and US government officials are not happy with Chávez's left-leaning politics. As part of the agreement, China will build housing for 20,000 homeless people and help Venezuela with their technology infrastructure.