Guo Jiakun Says China Will Support Cuba Against U.S. Threats, Urges Lifting Blockade

China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said the Chinese government would provide “support and assistance” to Cuba in the face of repeated threats from the United States, condemning Washington’s pressures that “compromise regional peace and stability.”

“China on Tuesday pledged to provide 'support and assistance' to Cuba in the face of repeated threats from the United States, condemning Washington's pressures that 'compromise regional peace and stability”

AL24 News

Guo Jiakun said China was urging the United States to “lift the blockade and sanctions against Cuba immediately,” and he added that “China will continue to provide Cuba with as much support and assistance as possible.”

Cubadebate

The AL24 News report tied the renewed pressure to Donald Trump’s threats against Cuba after the Caracas raid that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Havana’s main ally and its principal energy supplier.

AL24 News also reported that during the operation, 32 Cuban military personnel, some of whom were part of Maduro’s security detail, were killed.

In the same briefing coverage, AL24 News quoted Trump urging Cuba to accept, “before it is too late,” an “agreement” whose nature he did not specify, and it included his threat: “There will be no more oil or money going to Cuba—zero!”

RFI reported that a Russian tanker carrying 730,000 barrels of crude oil to Cuba—named the Anatoly Kolodkin—was intended to provide temporary relief to a country hit by a deep energy crisis.

Jorge Piñon, a Cuban energy sector expert at the University of Texas at Austin, said the main electricity problem was that the eight large thermo-electric plants generating more than 40% of the island’s electricity are “more than 45 years old.”

RFI

Piñon told RFI that nearly half of those plants are continuously offline because they are under repair, and he said last year Cuba suffered five power outages that affected the entire island.

On renewables, Piñon said Cuba can rely only on solar energy and cited “Small solar parks of about 21 MW that China gave them,” adding that they operate only in the morning and afternoon because they lack storage systems.

RFI also reported that the transmission lines are old and dilapidated, with about 15% of the electricity produced by the grid lost, and Piñon estimated rebuilding the entire electrical infrastructure will cost 8 to 10 billion dollars and take between three and five years.

Cubadebate reported that Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez spoke with Zhang Anming, deputy general director of Guangxi State Controlled Capital Operations Group Limited, a Chinese state group evaluating joint projects to recover Cuba’s sugar agro-industry.

“Russian oil to Cuba: 'The priority sectors are transport, water, and agriculture' The arrival of a Russian tanker carrying 730,000 barrels of crude oil to Cuba is intended to provide temporary relief to a country hit by a deep energy crisis, explains Jorge Piñon, a Cuban energy sector expert at the University of Texas at Austin”

RFI

Cubadebate said Díaz-Canel highlighted the significance of the visit as continuity to agreements and consensuses reached with President Xi Jinping, and it described Xi as having shown “great sensitivity toward Cuba’s problems” and promoted “mutually beneficial projects in the economic and commercial spheres.”

The report said the Chinese delegation’s visit began last Tuesday and would extend to next Saturday, and it added that the delegation would visit several mills in the central region of the country to assess the potentials there.

South China Morning Post reported that China and Cuba held agriculture talks as Beijing backed Havana amid US pressure, with Chinese Vice-Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Zhang Zhili meeting Cuban Deputy Agriculture Minister Telce Gonzalez to review joint projects and explore new areas of collaboration.

SCMP also described the meeting as part of a broader effort to back Cuba, and it said the Cuban embassy in China described agriculture as a priority area in the bilateral relationship while referencing the construction of a “community of shared future” between the two countries.