Madrid/The second season of the podcast It’s the ideadriven by Randy Alonso, has released this Tuesday with the presence of Chinese ambassador to CubaHua Xin. The former vice president of the Spanish Government Pablo Iglesias, the Cuban political scientist Rafael Hernández and the activist of The People’s Forum Manolo de los Santos have already passed through the space, an interview program with politicians, academics or diplomats.
The conversation reviewed a whole constellation of topics, ranging from the Brics group to climate change, covering China’s trade relations in Latin America and Beijing’s solidarity with Cuba, with the inevitable mentions of Fidel Castro in between. But what Randy Alonso tried to take advantage of the most is how a country tightly governed by a Communist Party has achieved the levels of development of China.
Hua did not skimp. There are three pillars: leadership is from the CCP, international opening is unavoidable and the economy must be market-based. Everything, yes, in its own way. Regarding the first section, the diplomat stressed that each communist party must adapt to the peculiarities of the country in which it develops. “President Xi said that the wind of the October Revolution was blowing in China, but the Communist Party of China did not become a Soviet party,” he argued.
Hua noted that it is imperative to “give full play to the decisive role of the market, always combining socialism with market economy.”
Regarding the second, Hua stressed the importance of being open to the world, which, he stressed, represents a general benefit for the Global South. “China is Cuba’s main trading partner and we are also the main trading partner of many countries in the region. Now many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are exporting their typical products and resources to China and, at the same time, Chinese products such as industrial products, household appliances and machines are increasingly welcomed by the people of the region,” he clarified.
The brief statement he made regarding the economy, key to the Cuban case, had more weight. Hua pointed out that it is imperative to “give full play to the decisive role of the market, always combining socialism with the market economy and establishing and perfecting the socialist market economy system, fully respecting the initiative of the people to become the protagonist of the reform.”
It was Alonso who warned that China had had food production as the cornerstone of its transformations – something that has not been a priority for the Cuban regime beyond words, as demonstrated by the low investment allocated to this sector. However, now the country has managed to be one of the biggest leaders in technology. Hua then had the opportunity to expand on robots, artificial intelligence, robotics and medicines, the only section – the latter – in which he collaborates with Cuba, for which the rest of the issues are still a chimera.
Halfway through the program was already over and Randy Alonso began to be more direct: how does Havana-Beijing cooperation materialize? Hua spoke of royal palms that withstand storms in the Cuban embassy in his country as a symbol of the union of the two countries and from there it went to Fidel Castro and Mao Zedong. No matter how much he tried to clarify by rambling about the Belt and Silk Road – of which Cuba is a part –, sports or ballet, the doubt remained.
What was already in port is “the first batch of materials for the 200 MW photovoltaic energy generation and storage project”
Hua went further into the realm of the tangible when he began to talk about energy, the sector in which the Chinese presence in Cuba is most truly perceived. “China is making maximum efforts to help Cuba. Last year, the 35 megawatt (MW) photovoltaic park project with Chinese assistance was synchronized, and now we are under construction of the 85 MW photovoltaic energy project that is divided into 15 solar parks, each with 5 MW,” he summarized. The diplomat then announced that this phase should be completed by October and that what was already in port is “the first batch of materials for the 200 MW photovoltaic energy generation and storage project,” with that, he assured, the results will be seen.
In addition, the ambassador made reference to the 5,000 solar systems that arrived last week to be installed in social centers, grandparents’ homes and polyclinics and to the 60,000 tons of rice promised months ago, the last batch of which has already arrived. “I’m sure Cuban families have tried Chinese rice,” he joked.
Randy Alonso, however, wanted to put more pressure on the ambassador, since China has not gone beyond verbally supporting – and he repeated it in the Hua program – Havana in the face of US sanctions. “How does China value this US blockade against Cuba and what other cooperation initiatives could be developed to confront it?” he insisted. The diplomat could not give more than what China has given all year: condemn, reject, claim, vindicate and condemn the interference. No real measure that confronts him with the US Government, with which in recent days he has shown great harmony.
As stated in a interview in the USA last Sunday the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Carlos Fernández de Cossío: “We are aware that we are alone. If we have to face foreign aggression, we must keep in mind that perhaps no country will come to our aid.”
