During a visit to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) last week, a Cuban delegation led by President Miguel Diaz-Canel secured key deals on loan restructuring, among numerous other economic cooperation agreements, and a $100 million donation to the socialist island nation.
The visit was part of a global tour to secure new trade relationships with various nations, including Algeria, Turkey, Russia, and the PRC.
The friendship between the two Marxist-Leninist-led states is long, with Cuba being the first country in Latin America to recognize the PRC in September 1960. In subsequent years, Cuba drew closer to the Soviet Union, which became hostile rivals to the PRC, but after the USSR was dissolved in 1991, China and Cuba built a new friendship as two of the world’s five remaining socialist states.
Luis René Fernández Tabío, PhD in Economic Sciences and full professor and researcher at the International Economic Research Center of the University of Havana, told Sputnik on Tuesday that the deals reached in Beijing, including Chinese President Xi Jinping’s allocation of $100 million to Cuba, was essential for the island to address the many economic crises created by the US blockade.
“The donation from China to Cuba served urgently to buy food, I imagine, but it all resulted from the government's decision, based on the most pressing needs. It is not a secret that the island's situation is currently critical, due to a combination of factors and situations, among them, the historical structural problems of the country, in the midst of the decision for monetary and exchange rate unification,” he said.
“Add to this, the intensification of the economic, commercial and financial blockade by the United States, an economic war of more than six decades, and the effects associated with the COVID-19 pandemic such as price increases, inflation (due to internal and external causes).”
“On top of it all, they are unable to pay any of Cuba's foreign debt because the lenders have blocked financing. The visits, both to China and to the rest of the countries, were an urgent need to be able to unlock this problem and restart the matter; as well as explore and open other payment options,” he explained.
“If you look at the economic data, most of the investment and trade between Beijing and the Latin American region is with the big ones in the Southern Cone, exporters of basic products and owners of big markets like Brazil, Argentina and Chile. In order to increase these ties, especially with the new players in the economy in the Caribbean nation, the government insists on new facilities and options for foreign investors,” Tabio explained.
“When taking stock of his visit on Sunday, President Miguel Díaz-Canel affirmed that the tour demonstrated their support for Havana, sensitivity to its problems and the willingness to support it, and classified this journey as ‘necessary and opportune.’ since it allowed the discussion of issues relevant to mutual ties,” he said.