“The community of shared destiny is today the fundamental thematic axis that moves bilateral relations between Cuba and China, and reflects the consensus reached at the highest level between the two countries, which are systematically renewed by both Parties.”
This was stated by Carlos Miguel Pereira, general director of Bilateral Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba (Minrex), in an exchange with Granma International, on how the Sino-Cuban relations are envisioned, after 64 years of bilateral ties.
“The concept of building the community of shared destiny has become the transversal axis of Chinese foreign policy, and has communicating vessels with Fidel's thinking. It is enough to look for Fidel's conviction that a better world is possible and his visions on how that world should be built, so that it would lead to the development of humanity and not to the extinction of the human race,” said the two-time Cuban ambassador to the Asian giant.
The exchange also focused on the application of the concept on a global scale and, more recently, at the bilateral level, and the connections with initiatives such as the Belt and Road, and with others formulated by the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and President of the Republic, Xi Jinping.
“The initiatives for Global Development, Security and Civilization have communicating vessels with this idea of building a shared destiny; this means, concretely, a future of peace, stability and equal development possibilities for all, where the opportunities of the countries of the South are recognized, the problems that currently impede their development are addressed, and international security issues are dealt with in such a way as to contribute to peace.”
“From this concept at the global level, we have moved to a more regional approach. Cuba is the first and only country in the region where China has proposed the joint construction of a community of shared destiny between both nations. It is also one of the results of the visit -in November 2022- of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, to China, and seeks to take relations to a new historic level.”
Prior to this declaration of building the community of shared destiny, important steps have also been taken, such as the insertion of Cuba, in 2018, in the Belt and Road Initiative, the diplomat stressed.
“Right now there are about 20 countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region that are part of it. Cuba was the first in the region to sign a Cooperation Plan with China to really achieve an effective insertion of the country in that mechanism,” he detailed, while pointing out the existence of a bilateral working group that promotes projects under the umbrella of that initiative.”
“Today, at the level of the Ministries of Science and Technology of both parties, there is a mechanism for co-financing projects for scientific research and innovation, which is already in its second edition, and which has resulted in more than a dozen projects.”
CHINA, ONE OF THE MAIN COUNTRIES IN COOPERATION WITH CUBA
The willingness and solidarity of the Chinese government to materialize cooperation in the midst of the difficulties faced by the island has recently transcended in the comprehensive aid package that includes more than 20,000 tons of donated rice, 50 million in financial assistance, and dozens of projects in different areas.
“The political relationship is very good, it is excellent, which has been helping those economic-commercial, financial and cooperation links to also have a similar development, and to reach the same level of expression they have today at the political level.”
“All these mechanisms help in that sense. The Global Development Initiative, which also has to do with the Belt and Road Initiative and the community of shared destiny, includes specific projects that are being developed today in different fields.”
“One example is cooperation in the field of new energies and is expressed in dozens of projects of different modalities. Some are the result of government credits granted by China, others are cooperation projects, business projects with joint ventures; in short, today we could not speak of the country's development and efforts to modify the energy matrix without the presence of China.”
“Sectors such as biotechnology have played a fundamental role in the last 20 years. In China we have three Cuban-Chinese joint ventures in key sectors of medicine production, and also in biotechnology applied to agriculture.”
“There is a growing presence of Chinese companies in the biotechnology sector. It is a process that started from Cuba to China and today it is becoming a bidirectional process.”
“In tourism and cultural matters we have been making progress. In 2024 not only the direct flight will be reestablished, but it was also announced that the next International Tourism Fair is going to be dedicated to the Asian country, therefore, initiatives and projects have been deployed that are aimed at increasing the presence of Chinese tourism.”
“Educational cooperation has been growing. Spanish is approved as a second foreign language at secondary and pre-university level in China, which indicates that there is a great demand.”
“Cuba is, of all Latin America and the Caribbean, the Spanish-speaking country with the greatest experience in teaching Spanish to young Chinese, since that first group that was received in the 1960s, after the triumph of the Revolution, and has continued to do so over time.”
“Today there are dozens of cooperation agreements between Cuban and Chinese universities that promote the exchange of professors, students, subjects or scientific research…”
“The recent insertion of Cuba in the Brics space, in which China has also played a key role as one of the major founders and promoters of that group, is also another opportunity that opens up for the development of new projects in biotechnology and others of interest to both parties.”
EXCHANGE OF RELATED EXPERIENCES IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIALISM
“The exchange of experience of both countries is important because in this special relationship that we have built Chinese and Cubans we start from considering the characteristics of each country.”
“To build socialism, to build the country we want, we have to start from the characteristics and national conditions of each one.”
“Although China today has much to teach us from the point of view of its socio-economic development experiences, Cuba also has much to show - which is recognized by the Chinese side - in areas such as health, medical care, biotechnology, science and technology, and innovation for development.”
“Cuba also has a lot to contribute at the level of the construction of both Communist Parties, in the exercise of popular power, in the issues of institutionalism, in the work with young people, in the ideological work in two countries that share similar challenges.”
“In that scenario, the theoretical Seminars between both Parties have set important guidelines. Each edition has been a moment to update the visions of both parties on similar issues, the shared visions and how to build together everything that can be built. That also has to do with, and tributes to, the shared destiny community.”
“The shared destiny community is not an abstract entity, but is gaining in content to the same extent that the initiatives, mechanisms and ways of relating bilaterally are contributing to that aspiration.”
