Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, welcoming his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodríguez to Beijing on Thursday, offered China’s support “to the best of our ability” following President Donald Trump signing an executive order declaring the Cuban Communist Party a national security threat.
Cuba has suffered over half a century of intense poverty, shortages, and human rights atrocities under the Communist Party regime installed violently by Fidel Castro in 1959. Following America’s decision not to engage in commercial activity with the rogue regime, Cuba managed to subsist through the financial aid of a coalition of European and Canadian tourists, communist benefactors such as the government of the Soviet Union, and the colonized nation of Venezuela.
Reports indicate that the Party has been flung into a state of alarm by the American arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro on narco-terrorism charges in January. In addition to ousting the dictator, President Trump announced a full-scale cooperation plan with his replacement, “interim president” Delcy Rodríguez (no relation to Bruno), for American companies to help the dilapidated Venezuelan oil industry prosper.
Like Cuba, Venezuela has endured extensive poverty and misery thanks to its socialist government, in part due to the decision to gift Cuba ample supplies of oil to keep the country fueled. As that oil is now being managed jointly with the United States, according to Trump, the supply Cuba depended on has dried out.
“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA — ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on January 11.
Part of the Cuban Communist Party’s response to the pressure — which also included the signing of an executive order allowing for sanctions on third parties doing business with Cuba — has been to reach out to its traditional allies for financial support. Its top diplomat held meetings with senior Chinese officials in Beijing this week.
Chinese officials insisted that the regime there “supports Cuba in opposing foreign interference and blockage,” but did not offer any material support publicly. Wang pointedly caveated his support by offering only what China has an “ability” to grant – a bizarre condition given China’s status as the second-largest economy in the world and its largest manufacturing hub. Adding to the tepid tone of the support from Beijing, the Chinese Foreign Ministry, asked about Bruno Rodríguez’s visit on Friday, refused to comment.
“On the talks between Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, China has released a readout, which you may refer to. I have no more information to share,” spokesman Lin Jian offered. The Foreign Ministry often issues a comment condemning America’s choice not to do business with Cuba or praising the Castro regime, even vaguely, rather than refuse to comment.
The Cuban independent outlet 14 y Medio described the support from China as “tepid,” notable in the context of China’s complete lack of action in defense of Maduro. Maduro’s last public act before his arrest was a meeting with visiting Chinese officials, highlighting how close the two governments were before his arrest.
Cuba has depended heavily on Venezuela for its economic survival since the election of socialist dictator Hugo Chávez in 1999. Chávez completely overhauled the structure of the previous democratic government and aligned Venezuela with the world’s most deplorable leftist regimes, in part by offering the largess of Venezuela’s ample oil reserves to political allies at discounted prices or for free. In exchange for oil, Cuba offered its security expertise, espionage, and political support. Reports throughout the past decade have revealed Cuba’s role in supporting drug trafficking through the Venezuelan regime and the torture and disappearance of political dissidents. On the night of Maduro’s arrest, 32 Cuban soldiers were killed while serving in the dictator’s defense; they were returned home in small boxes, leaving unclear how they died.
Given the close alignment of the Cuban communist state with Maduro, the regime in Havana announced a vague “state of war” preparation, presumably against America, in January. The official newspaper of the Communist Party, Granma, published screeds featuring threats to massacre Americans. Last weekend, the regime orchestrated “acts of repudiation” – ritualistic mob attacks typically reserved for public dissenters to communism – against America’s top diplomat on the island, Charge d’Affairs Mike Hammer.
President Trump declared a national emergency over the existence of the Castro regime on January 30.
“The President is addressing the depredations of the communist Cuban regime by taking decisive action to hold the Cuban regime accountable for its support of hostile actors, terrorism, and regional instability that endanger American security and foreign policy,” the order reads. Given the state of the “embargo,” or limitations on American business in Cuba, few sanctions remain to place on Cuba that would not directly affect American humanitarian aid, which Cubans depend on to survive. The executive order thus instead allowed for the imposition of sanctions on countries that “directly or indirectly” help Cuba supply itself with oil – which would primarily target Mexico now that Venezuela no longer supplies its oil.
The Chinese state propaganda outlet Global Times issued an outraged column declaring America in “international discredit and isolation” over the executive order, claiming it is part of the creation of a “dynamic of dependence and subordination of a neocolonial nature.” The Global Times notably did not report any action on the Chinese government’s part to protect Cuba from this alleged calumny.