“No matter how the international scenario changes, China, as always, will firmly support Cuba in pursuing a socialist development path suitable to its national conditions, and will firmly support Cuba in defending its national sovereignty and opposing foreign interference,” said Guo Jiakun, the spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, on the occasion of the 66th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The spokesperson also stated that “in the 66 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Cuba, the friendship between the two countries has been passed down from generation to generation” and that, under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, “the construction of a Sino-Cuban community with a shared future has continually deepened and become increasingly substantive.”
Cuba was the first Latin American and Caribbean country to recognize the People’s Republic of China, on September 28, 1960, less than two years after its own revolution. On September 2, 1960, Fidel Castro called, in front of more than a million Cubans, for the breaking of relations with Taiwan.
A few days ago, in New York, Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, at the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, asked the “country in question” (in clear reference to the United States) to immediately stop using the “threat of force against Cuba” and to “immediately and completely lift the blockade and sanctions against Cuba”.
Solidarity
Faced with the worsening of the crisis caused by the tightening of the US blockade against the island, the Chinese government has supported Cuba with food donations, energy aid and financial support.
In January this year, while the island received the first batch of a donation of 30 thousand tons of rice, China announced a new package of 60 thousand tons of grain and financial support of US$80 million (more than R$418 million) for the acquisition of electrical equipment.
The announcement was made by the Chinese ambassador in Havana, Hua Xin, to President Miguel Díaz-Canel at the Palace of the Revolution, in the midst of the energy crisis caused, among others, by the interruption of Venezuela’s oil supply following the US invasion of the country.
The first batch of 60,000 tons left the Port of Shanghai on March 19, managed by the China Agency for International Cooperation for Development (APCID), according to the Cuban embassy in Shanghai. The first installment, of 15 thousand tons, arrived at the Port of Havana on May 23; another batch of the same quantity arrived on August 13th.
In September, the third donation of 5,000 photovoltaic solar systems arrived, destined for homes and public centers in remote rural areas. The two previous shipments, from November 2025 and August this year, were destined for health centers, daycare centers and social assistance institutions. The donations are part of a joint program to install 92 solar parks with 2,000 megawatts of installed capacity.
66 years of relationships
On September 23, officials celebrated the anniversary of relations at the China-Latin America Cultural Exchange Center in Beijing. The Chinese government’s special representative for Latin American and Caribbean affairs, Qiu Xiaoqi, reiterated Beijing’s support for Cuba in defending its national sovereignty and security and said that China will continue to support the island’s economic and social development.
“China and Cuba are good friends, good companions and good brothers,” Qiu said, according to Latin Press.
The Cuban ambassador to China, Alberto Blanco Silva, pointed out that the bilateral relationship is based on “political trust, solidarity and the defense of social projects” of both countries.
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
